1908 John Baddaley

THE RUSSIAN
CONQUEST OF THE
CAUCASUS
BY
JOHN
F.
BADDELEY
WITH MAPS, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND

39
GO.
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NEW
YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

1908
All rights reserved
" The Caucasus may
be
likened to
a mighty fortress,
strong by nature, artificially protected by military works,
and defended by a numerous
garrison.
men would attempt
to escalade
such a stronghold.
commander -would
see
military art,
and
mine,
the necessity
and would
and
A ivise
of having recourse
lay his parallels,
so master the
Only thoughtless
place"
to
advance by sap
Veliameenoff
PREFACE
When
a non-military
writer
deals
a word of explanation seems called
with
military affairs
for.
Riding through and through the Caucasus unaccompanied save by native tribesmen, living with them, accepting
their
studying
hospitality,
their
way
of
and
life
character, conforming as far as possible to their customs,
noting their superstitions and prejudices, writing
down
their
songs and legends, I became interested, likewise, in

that related to that
their
Nor
with Russia in which they or
strife
had, almost without
fathers
this surprising
is
for the
all
exception, taken part.
whole country teemed with
memories of the fighting days, and wherever we rode,

wherever we rested
hills or
there
in
walled
were
tales
to
adventures, the battle
tell
whose blood
villages,
is
Dull, indeed,
must he be
not stirred in a land so varied and beautiful,
with memories so poignant.

heightened by
all I
of
many
excursions with in-
had seen and heard, I sought
complete from books the information gathered,
word
on the
shock of armies, the slaughter of
Coming back from each

terest
in
of desperate deeds, of brave
thousands, the deaths of heroes.
filled
cities,
the plains, in forest depths, in mountain fastnesses
of mouth.
literature of the
And
not in vain.
locally,
to
from
In the voluminous
Caucasus I found a wealth of material
relating to the various wars, yet, strange to say, not, even

in Russian,
any complete history of the conquest.
Lieut-General
Doubr6vin's
great
attempt breaks
Thus
off
in
PREFACE
vi
course
General Potto's comprehensive work, still in
of
of publication, ends, so far, with the Turkish campaign
1827"
By
1829. 2
neither, therefore,
the Murid war so
is
much
as
and
Colonel Eomanovsky's lectures, delivered
Shamil's
published in 1860, cover the whole period up to
subject.
the
surrender, but are too brief to do full justice to
touched.
In languages other than Russian and notably in English

references,
I could find little but fragmentary accounts and
of
or at most the record of some particular phase or episode
the wars, and these for the most part full of prejudice and
error.
seemed that a narrative of the

Russian conquest of the Caucasus should have its interest
for English readers, even though written by one who disIn these circumstances
claims
it
expert knowledge of military
all
affairs,
and leaves
purely military deductions to be drawn by those better

qualified for the task.
I offer this
is
book
It is in that hope, at all events, that
to the public, claiming for
it
only that
it
a true statement of the facts, as far as I could discover
them, soberly written, and free from bias.
To
the authors above-mentioned, in the periods treated
by them,
my acknowledgments
are
due
as I have been unable to trace to
My
for
such information
more
original sources.
chief reliance throughout, however, has been on the

collection
vast
of authentic documents published by the
Caucasus Archseographical Commission, 3 the work referred

to in
my
text and notes as " Akti "
while next in im-
portance
come
Sbornik,
published under the supervision of the Grand
the
twenty
volumes of
Istoria voinee ee vladeetchestva rousskikh
na Kavkazye,
the
St.
Kavhazshy
Petersburg, 1871-
1888, 6 vols.
2
3
Kavkazskaya voind, St. Petersburg, 1887-1897, 4 vols., each in four parts.

Akti S6branniye KavkdzskoyouArkheografeetcheskoyou Kommissieyou, 13 vols.
Tiflis (various dates).
PREFACE
Duke
vii
many
Michael, a collection of articles on the war by
hands and of very unequal merit, but on the whole a

valuable source of information. 1
Other works referred to
in the following pages need not be particularised here
a word of acknowledgment
for his Bibliographic
is
due
Caucasica
et
but
to Professor Miansaroff
Transcaucasica, 2 a re-
markable work, wherein any one may see at a glance what

stores of literature have already accumulated round
rich
that fascinating subject the Caucasus, and, be

little
is
of any value
is
it
added,
There
contributed by English writers.
one notable exception, however.
how
Englishmen will always
cherish the fact that their countrymen were the
first
to set
on the summits of Elbrouz and Kazbek, and such

books as Freshfield's, 3 Grove's, 4 and Mummery's 5 will be
foot
read by coming generations

will find
in
when they have found
as they
the mountain country between the Caspian
and the Black Sea another and a
larger " playground of
Europe."
Specifically,
in
regard
to
between
the warfare
the
Russians and the tribesmen, as distinct from the Persian
and Turkish wars, the only works by English writers of

even slight interest are those in which Messrs. Longworth
and Bell recount

Black Sea coast
briefly
why
their
dealings with the
and in
tribes of the
this connection I
in the following pages so little has
must explain
been said of
Kuvlcazsky Sbornik, 20 vols., Tiflis, 1876-1899.
St. Petersburg, 1874-1876, 1 vol.
" The Central Caucasus and Bashan," by Douglas W. Freshfield.

1 vol.
The same author's " The Exploration of the Caucasus."
London,
London,
Second Edition.
" The Frosty Caucasus," by F. C. Grove. London, 1875, 1 vol.
" My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus," by A. F. Mummery.
London,
1869,
1902, 2 vols.
4
6
1 vol.
1895,
Year among the Circassians," by J. A. Longworth. 2 vols., London,

"Journal of a Residence in Circassia during the years 1837-1839," by
James Stanislaus Bell. 2 vols., London, 1840.
6
1840.
"
PREFACE
viii
the warfare in the western Caucasus, which began as early

as that in the east and lasted longer, namely, until 1864.
The
truth
is
(as Colonel
Romanovsky puts
it
that this
western warfare never had anything like the importance for
Russia that attached to the struggle in Daghestan and

Tchetchnia; and when the Russian Government did concentrate its attention mainly in that direction, as in the
Moreover, there was never
the mistake cost dear.
'thirties,
cohesion between the western tribes attained under
the
Shamil in the
nor was there ever amongst them a
east,
was of a desultory nature,

and to relate chronologically the events of what was practically an independent war would have been to destroy the
really great leader.
my
unity of
separately,
The
fighting
On
narrative.
tell
the story
the
dramatic
the other hand, to
and subsequently, would,
after
ending at Gouneeb, have been to risk an anti-climax.

decided, therefore, in the present work at least, to omit
but the briefest and most necessary references to
the fact that the struggle took place and that
it
it,
I
all
yet
outlasted
even Shamil's resistance must not be forgotten.

In conclusion, I must put on record
kind
Esq.,
much good
for
gratitude to two
Pemberton, R.E., and Cecil
friends, Colonel Ernest
Floersheim,
my
advice
and
to
Mrs.
Tyrrel Lewis for her beautiful drawing of Shamil.
Note
1.
All dates, unless otherwise stated, are Old Style,
days later than the same dates,
New
i.e.
twelve
Style, for the nineteenth century,
eleven days later for the eighteenth century.
Transliteration.
Note 2.
and parcel
Russian
is
As the whole of the Caucasus forms part

Russian Empire, and has done since 1864, and as
the official language of the country, it is only reasonable to
of the
follow the Russian nomenclature, except in cases where other

spellings
have acquired a prescriptive right and
Op.
cit.,
p, 226.
may
names or
continue in use
PREFACE
ix
without inconvenience. Georgia and Georgian, for instance, need not

be changed to Grouzia and Grouzeen, any more than Russia and Russian
to Rosseeya
But
and Rousski.
as the Russian alphabet differs greatly from the English,
it is
obvious that words and names transferred from one to the other must
undergo transliteration. Now this is a difficult and much-vexed question,

on which no authority holds at present but it is admitted on all sides
that for any given book at least, a definite system should be chosen and
kept to from first page to last. In the present work this condition has
been observed or attempted, the system itself aiming merely at so ren;
dering Russian words that the English reader
may pronounce them
and as the main difficulty in doing so

arises from the arbitrary incidence in Russian of the stress or emphasis
"
so strongly noted in nearly every word of the language, this " stress
hasibeen marked throughout by an acute accent, except when it falls on
the vowel usually rendered " i," which is then written " ee," lest it be
taken for " i," as in " child." To this I will only add that, roughly,
colourably like the originals
" a " has the sound of the second " a
"e"
"ou"
,,
,,
,,
" zh "
French "
"kh"
German "ch."
am aware
that the
"a"
"
" in
papa.
in paper.
ou"
in through.
"t" and "d"
j."
"ch" and "j"

harm and serve to guard
I use before
respectively are redundant, but they can do no
against the pronounciation of those letters as in French.
and Turkish names, an endeavour has been

on the one side,
and, on the other, a scientific accuracy for which the general public is
In regard
made
to Persian
to avoid the extremes of egregiously bad spelling
not yet prepared.
In Shamil's Psalm (Appendix III.) I have adopted throughout, in

Chapter XV. (Muridism) in part only, the spelling kindly furnished me
by Prof. E. G. Browne,
of
Cambridge University.
CONTENTS
PART
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
CHAPTER
1829
First contact Free Cossacks

Early relations with Georgia First
with the natives Cossack colonisation Formation of the great Cossack Line First
PAOB
The Russian approach to the Caucasus
conflicts
Summary of events leading to the

incorporation of Georgia in the Russian Empire
crossing of the mountain chain
....
CHAPTER
II
1722-1771
Derbend occupied Peter returns to MoscowHis

BakuTheir further successes Under Anne the
Russians retire to the Terek Catherine the Great Strengthening
the Line War with Turkey Todtleben crosses the mountains
The Russians retire once more PlatofPs action Flight of the
Peter's campaign
lieutenants take
Kalmuck Tartars
23
CHAPTER
III
1771-1796
Peace with Turkey Derbend reoccupied and again abandoned The Line
extended The Kouban The Nogai Tartars Their subjugation by
Souv6roff Count Potiomkin, first Viceroy of the Caucasus Colonisation Shaykh-Mansour Tchetchen victory The first forest disaster Battle of Tatartoub Shaykh-Mansour goes to the western
tribes War with Turkey First and second attempts on Anapa
Hermann defeats Batal Pasha Anapa taken Shaykh-Mansour a
prisoner His death Strengthening of the Line Agha Muhammad's sack of Tiflis War with Persia Z6uboff appointed to the
command-in-chief
37
CONTENTS
xii
CHAPTER IV
1796-1806
PAGE
Persian campaign of 1796 Derbend taken again Russian successes

Death of Catherine Paul orders retreat to the Liue of the Terek, but
is compelled to interfere again
Incorporation of Georgia Alexander I. Tsitsianoff The Tsaritsa Marie Death of Lazareff
Tsitsianoff's policy and successes
The whole of Georgia reunited
after four hundred years Death of Gouliakoff War with Persia
Heroic conduct of Russians Baku Death of Tsitsianoff
...
57
Goud6vitch again
for the fourth and last time
Troubles on all sides Niebolseen's victory War with Turkey
Anapa retaken Goud6vitch repulsed at Akhalkalaki and Erivan
Capture of Poti- Imeritia annexed Unification of Christians
Paulucci's victory under the walls of Akhalkalaki Dangerous position
of the Russians
Combined action of Persia and Turkey It comes
to nothing Kotliarevsky takes Akhalkalaki Russian disasters
Rebellion in Georgia Its suppression Paulucci recalled General
Rteeshtcheff Peace with Turkey Russia's conquests abandoned
Kotliarevsky's victory at Aslandouz Lenkoran Peace with Persia
Russian conquests
73
CHAPTER V
1806-1816
Derbend captured
CHAPTER VI
1816-1817
Yermoloff
His early career CharacterPolicyHis mission to Persia
The Line
92
CHAPTER
VII
1818
VeliameenoffHis early career, character, and policy

Paskievitch's letter Comparison between Cossack and native Plans for the subjugation of the
Building of Grozny
His
Memoir and Commentary on
Caucasus
106
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
xiii
VIII
1819
PAQK
Building of Vnezapnaya Native revolt in Karakaitagh Russian defeat

Russian successes Large increase of the Russian army Organisation of the Caucasian infantry regiment Madatoff Submission of
Tabassaran, Karakaitagh, Shekeen, Avaria Yerm61ofPs cruelty The
Akousheens beaten
123
CHAPTER IX
1820-1825
boulat Ameer-Hadji-Yourt
Kasi-Koumoukh conquered Shirvan absorbed War between Persia and

Turkey Annexation of Karabagh Devastation of Kabarda Ammalat Bek Growth of Muridism Grekoff Tchetchen rising Bei-
.....
destroyed Gherzel Aoul besieged

Assassination of Grekoff and Lissanievitch
135
CHAPTER X
1826-1827
Yerm61off returns to the Line Death of Alexander I. Persian war

Russian disasters Yerm61offs inaction
Paskievitch
Madatoff's
victory at Shamkhor Paskiivitch's victory Yermoloff leaves the
Caucasus His career and policy
152
CHAPTER XI
1827-1828
Enters Nakhitchevan Takes Abbas-Abad

Kras6vsky Serdar-Abad taken Erivan
Tabriz Urmia Ardebil Treaty of TurkmentchaiAnglo-Persian
Paskievitch blockades Erivan
Battle
relations
of
Ashtarak
from 1800 to 1827
164
CHAPTER
XII
1828
War
with Turkey Russian aims Siege and capture of Kars Of Anapa

Plague Siege and capture Akhalkalaki March on Akhaltsikh
Defeat Turkish relieving force
of
of
182
CONTENTS
xiv
CHAPTER
XIII
1828
Its
PAGB
capture Poti capitulates Gouria occupied

Paskievitch's plans for the second year's campaign Murder of
Griboyedoff Turkish attempt to recover Akhaltsikh
Siege of Akhaltsikh
195
CHAPTER XIV
1829
Hess6's victory at Limani Danger of war with

Paskievitch's successful diplomacyAbbas Mirza sends his
son to St. Petersburg Plague at Akhaltsikh Russian victory at
Digour March on Brzeroum Crossing of the Saganloug Defeat of the Seraskier Of Haghki Hassan-Kala taken Erzeroum
occupied Poushkin Baibourt Death of Bourtseff Paskievitch's
victory Peace of Adrianople Unnecessary bloodshed Hesse's repulse Migration of 90,000 Armenians Paskievitch Persian and
Akhaltsikh relieved
Persia
Turkish troops
206
PART
II
THE MURID WAR

CHAPTER XV
Muridism Kazi Moulla
Blood-feuds
fication of
Adat
ShamilDevelopment of the movement

Number of MuridsGeneral signi-
and Shariat
Murid and Muridism
230
CHAPTER XVI
1829-1832
Kazi Moulla takes the field His various successes and defeats Andee
Khounzakh, Tarkou, Bournaya, Derbend, Kizliar, Agatch-Kala
Plans for subjugation of the tribes Nazran Galgai expedition
:
251
CHAPTER XVII
1832
Tchetchnia expedition Defeat and death
Ghimree Death of Kazi Moulla
Volzhinsky Dargo taken
...
of
9rr
CONTENTS
xv
CHAPTER XVIII
1832-1837
PA8B
Hamzad, the second Imam Slaughter of the Avar Khans Lanskoi takes
GhimreeKlugenau takes Gherghebil and GotsatlDeath of Hamzad
Shamil, third Imam The affair at Ashilta bridge
.283
CHAPTER XIX
1837
Fese's
Avar expedition
Nicholas
I. visits
of 1837
Klugenau's interview with Shamil

Rosen dismissedAlbrandt's mission
the Caucasus
297
CHAPTER XX
1838-1839
Shamil's success Russia takes the alarm Russian plan of campaign

Grabbers expedition Siege and capture of Argouani The Andee
Koisou crossed
Siege of Akhoulgo
313
CHAPTER XXI
1839
Siege of Akhoulgo continued Sourkhai's castle taken Failure of general

assault Siege operations resumed Progress of the Russians
Shamil surrenders his son Final assault and capture of Akhoulg6
Shamil escapes
Gol6vine's Samour expedition Its results
328
CHAPTER XXII
1840-1842
pacification of Tchetchnia Pullo's administration Shamil
power His
again England and Egypt Shamil's rapid recovery

cruelty Akhverdi Mahoma Shamil in Daghestan Hadji Mourad
campaign for 1841 Bakounin's death Dissensions
Russian plan
Apparent
of
of
between Grabbe and Gol6vine Fese takes Klugenau's command and

Disastrous
is again replaced by him Grabbe's Dargo expedition
results of his operations Grabbe recalled Golovine succeeded by
Neidhardt
344
CONTENTS
xvi
CHAPTER XXIII
1843-1844
PAGE
Loss of the Russian

forts in Avaria Passek at Ziriani Siege of Neezov6e Of Shoura
Freitag to the rescue Death of Akhverdi Mahoma Shamil and his
mother Nicholas L's demands Large reinforcements Russian suc-
Shamil's military organisation His 1843 campaign
cess in
Kazi-KoumoukhAnd
Shamil's crueltyDefection
at GhilleeDeath of Shouaib Moulla

of
Daniel Sultan Fort Vozdveezhen361
skoe built
CHAPTER XXIV
1845
Vorontsoff The Dargo expedition Disastrous result

rescue once more
Freitag
to the
385
CHAPTER XXV
1846
Shamil's invasion of Kabardi
Freitas's pursuit Shamil checkmated

Mourad's raid Shamil enters Akousha His defeat at Kouteshee Russian losses
His
flight
Hadji
411
CHAPTER XXVI
1847-1848
Russian assault on Gherghdbil
Defence of Akhtee
Saltee taken Gherghebil surrendered

428
CHAPTER XXVII
1849-1856
Shamil at the zenith of his power Argouteeusky fails at Tchokh Hadji

Mourad His raid on Shoura He is sent by Shamil to Kaitago His
raid on Bouinakh Shamil's jealousy He compasses Hadji Mourad's
death The latter surrenders to the Russians, but escapes His
death SlieptsofF killed Bariatinsky chief of the Left Flank Forest
cutting Raids Depopulation of lowland Tchetchnia The Crimean
war Operations in Asia Minor Danger of war with Persia Secret
convention Shamil's invasion of Kakhetia Argouteensky's march
Shamil's second invasion of Kakhetia and capture of the Georgian
princesses Their captivity Shamil at home
.....
437
CONTENTS
xvii
CHAPTER XXVIII
1857-1859
PAOE
Bariatinsky appointed viceroy and commander-in-chief Milioutine his

chief of the staff Their plan of action
Campaigns of 1857 and 1858
Aoukh, Salatau, and the Argoun gorges occupied Forts built at
Bourtounai and on the Argoun Vrevsky's expeditions from the
Lesghian Line His death Revolt at Nazran Shamil's abortive
attempts at relief His defeat by Meeshtchenko 1859 Capture of

Veden Advance of the three armies The ddbdcle Flight of Shamil
Gouneeb The end
468
APPENDIX
483
INDEX
495
ILLUSTRATIONS
Shamil
........
Arakanee (a typical Aoul of Daghestan)

Yerm6loff
Yermoloff (as an old man)
Field-Marshal Paskievitch of Erivan, Prince
.
Warsaw
of
murid with a
nalb's standard
(From Theo. Horsoheldt'i
...
.
....
Prince Vorontsoff
Hadji Mourad
.......
....
General Count Yevdokeemoff

The Surrender of Shamil on Gouneeb, 25th
August 1859
(
Shamil
96
,,
162
195
,,
250
263
,,
308
picture)
Towers in the Country of the Galgais, with)

Crosses worked in the Masonry
.\
the
Aoul of Lialakh, in
Country of the GalgaisJ
General Kluke von Klugenau
Todtleben
Frontispiece,
To face p. xxxii
......
385
434
,,
442
,,
470
482
,,
490
From. Theo. Horsoheldt'i picture)
(as
an old man)
MAPS
Map
to
Illustrate the Persian and
Turkish
Wars
Tofacep.
The Retreat of the Ten Thousand in 1845

Murid Invasion of Kabarda, 1846
...
.
The Seat of War in Daghestan and Tchetchnia

The Caucasus, with Ethnographical Map of
224
410
426
.At
Daghestan
end
PLANS
Tofacep.
Akhoulg6
Gouneeb
XIX
324
478
" 0, wild the tribes that dwell in those defiles

Freedom their God, and Strife their only law
;
In friendship
firm, in
vengeance firmer
still
Not theirs the Master's teaching from above

They render good for good, for evil ill,
And Hate with them is limitless as Love."
Lermontoff, Ismail Bey,
iii.
INTRODUCTION
The name Caucasus has been used from
Êschylus and Herodotus, at
Caspian
the
least, to
mountains stretching across
lofty
and
east-south-east,
with
between
isthmus
west-north-west
varying
of
denote the chain of
the
Black Seas from
together
days
the
extent
to
the
of
regions on either side.

It is applied at the present
and
of the government of Astrakhan
south
territories
day to the whole of the
Don up
the province of the
to the Persian
and Turkish
frontiers.
To
tensive
is
describe even in
summary fashion a country
and varied within the
clearly
impossible.
treatment a
following
For
limits of
anything
volume would be
pages
aim only
at
giving
general idea of the Caucasus and
its
one short chapter

approaching
the
full
and the
enough,
little
so ex-
some
reader
inhabitants,
and of
the problems involved in the conquest.
The Caucasus
is
essentially
a mountain country;
its
inhabitants, with the exception of the Christian popula-
tion occupying the river valleys of the Eion and Koura,

essentially mountaineers; for, just as, thanks to
and
elevation, the
its
mass
great central range has largely influ-
other physical features, so together with
them
enced
all
has
been the determining factor in the matter of popuThe peoples of the Caucasus owe to it not only
it
lation.
their salient characteristics,
may be
but their very existence.
said without exaggeration
that
the
It
mountains
INTRODUCTION
xxii
made
men; and
the
men
the
in return fought with pas-
and energy in defence of
sionate courage
mountains, in whose fastnesses,
nigh
unconquerable.
contradictions
weakness went hand

ruggedness
of
the
in
great
and steepness of the

primeval
forest,
unity the tribes
one
meet us on
that
of
strange
those
sides,
all
and
strength
The very height and
hand.
profound
the
ranges,
the
valleys,
they were well-
indeed,
by
Yet,
beloved
their
depth
of the
spread
vast
and without
made union impossible
in the long run were bound to fall before
;
the might of Eussia.
The mountain chain, to which, admittedly, the name

Caucasus was once restricted, has a total length of some
650 miles, of which the really mountainous part
400
is
miles long with skirts stretching out for another 150 and
100 miles respectively, to the neighbourhoods of Baku,
on the Caspian, and of Novorosseesk, on the Black Sea. 1
width varies considerably, and in estimating
Its
room
is
for divergence of opinion, but roughly
there
it
it
may be
100 miles, save in the middle, where
stated at about
it
narrows considerably, and at the tapering extremities.
The
division thus
triple
indicated by Nature
corre-
sponds, though roughly and for not very obvious reasons,
which during the whole of the

supremacy the mountain country was
to the three sections into
long struggle for
To
divided.
the west,
from the neighbourhood of El-
brouz to the Black Sea coast,
is
a forest region wherein
the main chain sinks gradually from a height of 10,000

feet
to
the
sea-level;
Tcherkess
and
Circassian
is
Freshfield, "
the reader
find
much
is
others,
applied,
and here
to
whom
kept up a
The Exploration
in
them
in
local
general
fierce
tribes,
the
the
name
though desultory
of the Caucasus," vol.
i. p.
27, to which
Those who read German will
Dr. Merzbacher's ponderous volumes.
referred for further information.
to interest
the
INTRODUCTION
xxiii
warfare against the northern invaders from the close of the

eighteenth century
down
To the
to 1864.
chens in their hillside forests and
Daghestan on
east the Tchet-
many
the
of
tribes
mountain plateaus maintained
their barren
the struggle for independence nearly as long, with greater
vigour and with a larger measure
of
success.
But
in
between, where the mountains are highest, where for 100

miles
and
a stretch there
at
400 miles but few, the Russians met with
for
opposition.
The
Ossietines, Kabardans,
to the west of the

gais,
as
Pshavs
nature
their
was,
the
to
and
sovereignty,
for
the
feet,
little
and Tartar
tribes
Ingoushee,
Gal-
road, the
east,
robbed
more than once
but on the whole they accepted Russian
belled;
or
Georgian
Khevsours, and
raided
no pass under 10,000
is
and
rerule,
most part nominal, with much
equanimity, and seldom gave any serious trouble.
There
was thus a great gap between the two main theatres of

the mountain war threaded by the one and only convenient line of communication from north to south, the
Georgian road
effort in
gap
that, in spite of Shamil's desperate
1846, was never bridged over; and this in the
history of the
conquest
is
a fact of primary importance
never to be forgotten.
On
the south side of the main chain dwelt the various
whose defence the

Russians first crossed the mountains, and who, with
occasional aberrations, held loyally to the compact in
Tsar.
virtue of which they became subjects of the
divisions
of the
Farther south
Georgian race in
still
lay,
on the
east,
the
Muhammadan
khanates, vassal states of Persia; on the west, the semi-
independent pashaliks of Turkey in Asia.

in the Caucasus
Russia's task should now be clear
proper to subdue, on the one hand, the western
tribes,
INTRODUCTION
xxiv
who looked
on the other, the
support to Turkey;
for
peoples of Daghestan and Tchetchnia

to
reunite
the
Georgian race, defend
Transcaucasia,
in
it
against Persian
and Turk, and enlarge and make safe its boundaries

their expense.
How this task was accomplished it
the object
of this volume to
tell
at
is
but in regard to the
Rus so -Turkish campaigns beyond the Caucasus, it must

be remembered that they served also a second purpose,
and served
it
well
to
employed in Asia Minor,
thousands of Turkish troops
and thus
The
carried
many
keep, namely, in war-time
ease, for Russia, the strain in
Europe.
struggle for the possession of the Caucasus
on
for a period,
was
roughly speaking, of sixty years
continuously against the mountaineers, and, in a succession

of wars extending over a
Turks and the Persians.
still
longer period, against the
The three
areas of conflict (count-
ing Transcaucasia as one) were practically separate, though

Persia
was
at times in contact with Daghestan,
the country of the western tribes

forth in the Preface, the present
with the last-named, and
as,
and
Turkey with
as, for
reasons set
volume deals hardly
at all
moreover, the Turkish and
Persian borders are sufficiently well known,
it
will only
be
necessary here to describe in somewhat greater detail the

scene of the Murid war
Daghestan
But
the peoples there inhabiting.

as well to say a few
in general
and Tchetchnia
before doing so
it
and
will
be
words as to the races of the Caucasus
and as to their
nating and the most
most
fasci-
many problems
there
origin, at once the
difficult
of the
confronting us.
A well-known
passage in Strabo states that Dioscurias,
on or near the site of the present Soukhoum-Kale, was frequented by people speaking seventy different languages.
Pliny quotes Timosthenes to the effect that the number was
INTRODUCTION
xxv
300, and says " afterwards

there
we Eomans conducted our affairs

with the aid of 130 interpreters."
And Al-Azizi
called the eastern Caucasus " the
Mountain of Languages
"
(Djebal Alsuni) because, according to him, the people in-
habiting
spoke 300 different tongues. Allowance must

be made for Oriental exuberance of imagination, but even
it
quite recently the
number was given by sober Europeans as

not less than forty for Daghestan alone, and it was supposed
that many if not most of these were totally unconnected
one with another. But recent researches have thrown quite
a
new
light
on
this
branch of comparative philology, and,
according to F. Miiller, the greater part of the languages

of the Caucasus form
one independent family consisting
of three groups, namely, the Kartvel, the western and the

eastern Caucasian, all originating in one parent language,
and
differentiated from
it
much
in the course of time in
the
same way as the languages, of the Hamite-Semitic family

from a like common
original.
In this way the Georgian
and cognate languages of the Kartvel group would answer

which are obviously connected
to those Semitic languages
together, while the languages of the
mountain
tribes
would
correspond to the Hamitic dialects, the connection between
which only becomes apparent on the application of analyHowever

tical methods proper to comparative philology.
this may be, and the last word on the subject has not yet of
course been said, the Caucasus
greater
number
any similar extent of

speaking, too,
General
is
territory
greater
on the surface of the globe,
variety
Komaroff remarks, the
valleys in
inhabited probably by a
of different tribes, races, and peoples than
which they
groups and the
dwell,
the
of languages
more
and,
as
the
smaller the individual
sharper, apparently,
other distinctions between them.
inaccessible
the
linguistic
and
INTRODUCTION
xxvi
Shamil's explanation of this great variety of population

in the Caucasus was, that Alexander the
dislike to the country
and
Great took a
owing to the barrenness of the
severity of the climate,
and out of
of exile for the criminals of
all
who felt
own people
spite
the world
made
;
it
soil
a place
and with the
was due to
the power of
bitterness of a leader
that his failure
the defection of his
rather than to
his enemies, the captive chieftain professed to attribute the

evil
nature of the mountaineers to this vile origin.
But
Alexander was never within hundreds of miles of the

Caucasus, and
it is
unnecessary to seek elsewhere than in
its
geographical position and physical configuration for good
why
and
sufficient
the
Caspian and Black Seas
refuge of
reasons
many
succumbing
should have become the
a race conquering and conquered in turn,
at last to fresh
or from north.
the mountain range between
waves of invasion from south
Driven into the mountains, where defence
was easy and the temptation to follow them slight, they

footing amongst those who had preceded
made good their

them in similar
circumstances,
or,
failing in that, disap-
peared for ever from amongst the nations of the earth.
That those who survived maintained in many cases their

individuality, that they even differentiated into
numerous clans and
tribes
and peoples,
more
varying more or
still
customs and beliefs, if such

was due, no doubt, to the nature of
new country, and is a phenomenon the less surpris-
less in appearance, language,
be really the
their
ing
when we
case,
consider what
similar results produced
by the density of the
Humboldt has
to say of the
on the vast plains of Brazil merely
forests.
From the dawn of history, and
doubtless long ages before,
these mountain fastnesses were the refuge of vanquished

races, the plains at their feet the
camping-ground of con-
INTRODUCTION
quering hordes.
Egyptian,
Mede, Alan, and Scythian

Mongol, Tartar, Turk,
Greek, Roman, Persian, and Arab
these
and Slav
xxvii
and more have one
after
another and
times without number surged up against the Caucasus like
angry waves on a storm-vexed coast

that, while
some
or all of
but the wonder
them contributed
is
their quota,
traceably or not, to the population of the Caucasus, the
majority of the tribes that
now
inhabit
from existing philological
at its base, to judge
ultimately from none of them, but are remnants
Uslar
thinks
" of
many
dwell
its recesses, or
data, derive
so at least
peoples inhabiting in prehistoric
times vast stretches of land in Asia and in Europe, and be-
longing to one race which has everywhere else disappeared."
Turning now more particularly
we
find
roughly speaking, that country consists of a narrow
that,
strip of littoral
rivers
feet,
to Daghestan,
and an elevated
tableland, through
which
have cut their way to a depth often of thousands of
the whole backed and ribbed, south and west, by moun-
many peaks over 13,000 feet in height.

The name Daghestan 1 was formerly applied to the whole
tain chains having
of the region forming, roughly, a triangle between the
Caspian Sea, the main chain, and the
so-called
Andee
chain, completed by the line of "the Soulak with a slight
extension northward to the mouth of the Terek.

or
should be, confined to
It is
now,
the Russian province which,
though generally speaking identical with the Daghestan

of former days, differs from it in detail, and in one very
important particular
line of the
have
for its south-east border follows the
Lower Samour,
so that instead of a triangle
we
a fairly regular quadrilateral, narrowing towards the
south-east in the line of
its
greater dimensions.
1
Derived, it is thought by some writers, not from hybrid Persian and
Turkish, meaning mountain country, but from the name of a people formerly
inhabiting it Dag or DAgki.
INTRODUCTION
xxviii
extraordinary complexity of the mountain system
The
due, geologists tell
is
us,''
to the fact that
originated in
it
two separate movements of upheaval, one acting in a

tion
from north-west to south-east, and giving
rise to
or watershed, together with lateral ranges
main chain
the north
direc-
the
on
the other, acting at right angles to the former
from south-west
direction, or
and producing
to north-east,
the great series of ridges or ranges- which occupy a large

part of the region between the
coast.
main range and the
It is noticeable that, as a rule, the
sea
mountains running
north-west to south-east have their south-west flanks steep
and north-east sloping

north-east are
those that run from south-west to
on the north-west and sloping on
steep
The highest summits,
the south-east.
Caucasus, only in
still
or outlying ranges,
as in the central
on the
greater proportion, are
the watershed
main
or
lateral
chain,
from
Shavi-klde (and indeed from Arkhotis-mta) to Bazar Diouzi,
where
it
14,722
rises to
feet,
a distance of nearly 170 miles,
being nowhere higher than 11,800

chains
are
seldom under 13,000
while the side
feet,
feet,
with
many peaks
The Bogos group, forming the watershed

between the Avar and Andee Koisous and running northeast from the main chain, has at least three peaks well
still
higher.
over 13,000
or
Farther to the south-east there are two
feet.
more peaks of over 13,000
chain, with
and,
still
its
outlier,
farther in the
feet
Dioulti Dagh,
same
on the Dolti Dagh

12,435
and Shakh Dagh, 13,952

1
in the province of Baku.
Dagh, 13,679
feet,
There are two main
feet
direction, lie the Shal

feet,
high;
Bouz
the latter
which the most

important is that of the Soulak, formed by the union of
the four Koisous the Kazi-Koumoukh, Kara, Avar, and
river systems, of
Merzbacher, Aus den Hockregionen des Kaukasus,
vol.
i.
p. 21, Leipzig, 1901.
INTRODUCTION
Andee
of which the
xxix
latter alone takes its rise outside the
All these run north and north-east
province, in Toushdtia.
in the direction of the ranges of the second upheaval, and

all
have worn channels of extraordinary depth and narrow-
ness forming, next to the chaos of mountains, the most
The
characteristic feature of Daghestan.
other system
is
that of the Samour, which, rising not far from the sources
of the
Kara and Avar Koisous,
to the south,
bend
runs, though with a
in a generally eastern
direction,
lower
its
course being now, as already stated, the boundary line of

the province on the extreme south-east.
The geology
one
of Daghestan
still
wants elucidation, but
fact stands out prominently, namely, that, contrary to
what obtains
in the central Caucasus, the crystalline rocks
underlying the main chain are completely hidden, the whole

visible
and
mountain system consisting of
Jurassic, cretaceous,
tertiary formations.
The
the war
total population
may be
of the Caucasus at the time of
given, roughly, at four millions
that of
which the Avars numbered

some 125,000.
Historically the most important of the
tribes, and one of the most numerous, they inhabited a
Daghestan
at half a million, of
stretch of country
more than 100 miles
in length, from
Tchir Yourt on the north to the borders of Zakatali on the

south, cutting Daghestan completely in two, and 45 miles
wide at the meridian of Khounzakh.
Their language
is
divided into two main dialects, those of
Khounzakh and
Antzoukh
some
differing greatly, according to
one from the other
and
into a
number of
though Erckert says exactly the contrary.

N.
Komar6ff, Zapeeski Kavk.
V.
in Sbor. Svied.
o.
otdtela,
LB.
authorities,
lesser ones, 1
Geogr. obshtchestva, vol.
viii.
Uslar,
Kavkazk. Gortsakh.
"Der Unterschied kein bedeutender ist," and "Die Sprache ist sehr
ubereinstimmend und zerfallt nicht in lokale Dialeke " Erckert, It. v., Der
Kaukasus und seiner Volker, p. 257.
2
INTRODUCTION
xxx
The Khounzakh
dialect being that of the three
Imams,
Kazi Moulla, Hamzad Bek, and Shamil, as well as of

their principal
official
lieutenants,
became naturally enough the
language of Muridism, 1 and therefore to a great
extent the general
and
all
this the
medium
more
of communication in Daghestan,
and numerous
easily that the warlike
Avars held a central position which brought them into
most of the other
direct contact with
many
language, like
difficult
may be mentioned that the "tl" so

on the map is the only rendering the
extremely
frequently occurring
Kussians have been
able to find for four different sounds or clicks
is
of pronunciation to Europeans, in proof of which
it
"
The Avar
tribes.
others in the Caucasus,
" represents
no
less
than
Nor
six.
is
while their
the grammatical
construction easier.
Avar
is
said to be a Turkish
word meaning
restless,
vagabond, &c, and was borrowed by the Russians from
The Avars, who ignore it, call themselves

name of the aoul or community to which
the Koumuiks.
individually by the
they belong, but
all
agree in saying that they are Maaroulal
(mountaineers) and their language Maaroul Mats (mountain
language); though the northern Avars call their southern

brethren Bagoualal, meaning poor, rude people, and this
division corresponds pretty exactly to
of the two main
dialects, the line of
south of Khounzakh.
the linguistic
one
demarcation being just
Russian writer summarising the
opinions of Uslar, Schiefner, Komaroff, and Tchirkeyeff,

says that they once spread farther north,
bably
nomads on the Koumuik
Plain.
and were proThere is even some
indication that they dwelt north of the Caspian,
and
if so
they were, doubtless, driven into the mountains by stronger

tribes
from the north.

1
They had nothing
The language
of religion
to
being Arabic.
do with the
INTRODUCTION
who were
Avars
fifth to
xxxi
conspicuous in European history from the
the ninth century, and finally disappeared under
the blows of Charlemagne, for the latter belonged to the

Uro-Altais (Finno-Turk-Mongols), whereas the language
of these Avars convinces us that they had nothing to do
with the Uro-Altaic peoples.
Nor any
better founded
is
Klaproth's idea of their kinship with the Huns, and therefore with the Madiars. 1
But here again Erckert
is
of an
opposite opinion.
Speaking of a connection between the

Avars of to-day and those who invaded Germany, he says
that, in any case, it cannot be considered impossible, 2 and
from anthropological data the features and the shape of

the head he declares that the Avars are the most mixed
race in Daghestan, a fact he found especially noticeable in
He
the neighbourhood of Khounzakh.
admits, therefore,
the probability of their having received additions, at
least,
from the Uro-Altaic peoples, and adds " in measuring heads

at
Khounzakh we were
struck involuntarily by the occur-
rence of Finnish types in the widest acceptation of the
word, though
we were
not seeking or wishing to find any
such relationship."
He
a connection between
Khounzakh and Hun, observing
in
then cautiously enough suggests
any case Hunnish peoples dwelt
that
to the north of the
Caucasus from the fourth to the sixth century as Utgur
and Kutugur, and when they disappeared were replaced in

turn as lords of the Steppe by Bulgarians, Sabirs, Avars
by Uro-Altaic peoples, who were only

dispossessed by the Turanians or Tartars from Turkestan
and Khazars,
i.e.
in the tenth century.
The people of Daghestan chose

and
the sites of their towns
villages first of all with a view to defence, for

1
2
Shorn. Svied. v. Kavk. Gortsalch., vol. ii.

" Jedmfalls scheint die MogHckkeit nicht ausgeschlossen."
which
N.V. in
Op.
tit.
INTRODUCTION
xxxii
reason they were nearly always built high up, on or against

the face of a ridge or rib of rock, isolated, or backed by
inaccessible
Arakanee
cliffs,
to guard against surprise.
(see illustration)
is
a fairly typical one.
The aoul of
The houses
were of stone, two storeys high, well built and convenient,

the interior faced and floored with clay carefully smoothed
and frequently whitewashed.
They were
disposed, as far
as possible, amphitheatre-wise, so as to enfilade one another,
the streets being tortuous and barely wide enough for two
horsemen
to ride
straddled, too, in places
abreast;
house furnished with a wooden bar or
portcullis,
by a
making
passage impossible until the defenders posted there had
been ousted or
killed.
Nearly
all
battered to pieces in half-an-hour by
these aouls could be
modern weapons from
half-a-dozen different emplacements, but in the days of the
war they were either
enough from any neighbouring

points of greater elevation, or sufficiently sheltered from
far
them, to run no danger from plunging

always be directed on an enemy below.
fire,
such as could
They
could, in fact,
only be taken by storm, and that was a formidable business
when every individual house had its garrison

men and often still more desperate women.
Fuel being
and
for
this
scarce, the
next consideration was warmth,
reason the aoul invariably had a
aspect, so as to benefit to the
cliffs
behind
it.
southern
utmost extent by the sun in
winter, while sheltered from the
rocks and
of desperate
northern blasts by the
All other conditions were of
secondary importance, including even the extent of cultivable
land in the vicinity, and the distance from which water had
to be brought.
tants,
and was
The former
limited the
number of
inhabi-
so far a disadvantage; the latter
was not
worth a moment's thought, provided only that the source
lay well within the area capable of protection against
an
K
<
H
w
INTRODUCTION
xxxiii
enemy, for the drawing and carrying of water was woman's

work, such as no mountaineer ever demeaned himself with.
His
it
was
to
bask in the sun, whittling
eating, sleeping or fighting; while all

left to his
wives and daughters.
As
sticks,
when
not
manual labour was
for these, the harder a
worked the sooner she found a husband and if after a

few years of labour and child-bearing she became a bent and
wrinkled hag, what matter ? God was great, Muhammad
girl
His Prophet, women plentiful and polygamy no sin her

lord and master married another.
Truly, the lot of woman
in the
mountains was (and
The
is)
no enviable
one.
various tribes of mountain Daghestan differed one
from another in many

characteristics in
respects,
common.
but they
They
had
all
certain
are described as being
intellectually well developed, patient, cunning, able to read
others at
a glance
and judge them
a word, strictly
at
honourable, and religious in the highest degree.
and drinking they were noted

they took but
little
sleep.
that they were brave
were
quick
less
and
for
extreme moderation, and
It is scarcely necessary to
bold
more
neighbours
than their
fiercely desperate.
add
In war, however, they
to a fault.
Tchetchens, though more obstinate, and,

extremities,
In eating
when
the
driven to
Such were the inhabitants of mountain Daghestan, and,

in following the campaigns against them, it must be borne
in mind that the fighting took place for the most part in an
elevated country, bare of trees, where the general level of
the land
is
some thousands of
feet high,
and peaks rising far above the snow-line

this so-called plateau, too
with
many
ridges
and that through
rugged as a matter of
fact to
deserve the name, the rivers have cut their narrow beds
to
depth,
1
generally,
of 3000 feet and more.
General Ok6Initchi in the Voyenny Sbornik for 1859.
In the
INTRODUCTION
xxxiv
chasms thus formed the aouls are often hidden,

and there the vine flourishes, and fruit trees, maize, and
valleys or
cereals repay abundantly the
other
bestowed upon them.
The
work, that in places have

nature so barren, cannot
truly marvellous care
irrigation-channels
made
to
fail
and
terrace-
garden of a land by
excite the admiration of
There are scraps of

cultivated land on many a rocky hillside of Daghestan to
be reached only by arduous climbing, to which every particle
of soil has been carried by hand; so small, too, some of
from more favoured regions.
visitors
them, that the anecdote of the Avar or Andeean, whose

disappeared while he
slept, to
field
be found again beneath his
(felt cloak), seems hardly an exaggeration.

In person the Daghestanis are true mountaineers, strong,
bourka
lithe, active,
and enduring.
In type they
differ greatly, as
might be expected, seeing how various is their origin but

many of them are handsome, and amongst them, on the
;
higher
levels,
features,
are
men with
blue eyes, fair hair, well-cut
and somewhat prominent cheek-bones, whose
like
may be seen any day north of the Tweed, and who, for all
we know, may be the descendants of the Cimmerians
or of the Scythians who, as
Persia by
way
Herodotus
of the western Caspian
tells
us,
invaded
littoral.
In the larger part of Daghestan, at the commencement

of the war, the despotic rule introduced by the Arabs
obtained
still
but there were also numerous free and very
democratic communities, both large and small.
Tchetchnia was the name given by the Russians to the

region bounded on the east by the Soulak, on the west,
Upper Soundja, and on the north by the

Lower Soundja and Terek; while to the south its con-
roughly, by the
fines
touched the mountainous countries inhabited by the
INTRODUCTION
xxxv
Andeeans and Avars of Daghestan, the Tousheens and the

Khevsours. The whole country was, and for the most part
still is,
covered with dense forests intersected by numberless
streams, deep-set and rapid, having their sources in the
mountains that
rise
range upon range, higher and ever
On
higher, to the south.
the banks of these streams dwelt
the Tchetchens, in isolated farms or in aouls
numbering sometimes hundreds of houses.
The
(villages),
latter
were
one-storeyed, flat-roofed, built of wattled, sun-baked mud,
wood
strengthened with
clean
and neat
inside
and out
and not without adornment and comfort in the way of

carpets, mats, pillows, and quilts, copper pots and pans, and
other domestic
garden,
orchard,
or
Each house commonly had
utensils.
and round the
aoul,
clearing, stretched the cultivated fields,
in
its
the forest
sown with maize,
oats, barley, rye or millet, according to the locality
but, as
the villages were unfortified, care was taken to keep one side
ever in contact with the forest, whither at the
of danger the
women and
children fled with
The forest, composed as

beech-trees, was their sure refuge
wealth.
safeguard
against
the
Tchetchens owed much
them from
Daghestan plateau
and
portable
in distress; their chief
Russian.
Koumuik
it
To
the
it
went to distinguish
of all that
just as
all
to nine-tenths of giant
advancing
their neighbours of the
threat
first
plain and the
constituted the
natural feature of their country, so did
it
chief
mainly determine
the nature and duration of the war for their subjection

fact that will find
pages.
As long
abundant
illustration
in the following
as the forest stood the Tchetchens were
The Russians made no permanent impression upon them save when and where they cut the beechand it is literally the fact that they were beaten
trees down
unconquerable.
in the long
run not by the sword but by the axe.
Shamil
INTRODUCTION
xxxvi
realised to the full the vital importance of the forests,
gave
orders as to their preservation.
strict
He
and
imposed
not only for the wanton destruction of
severe penalties
but even when they were cut down, without his
trees,
cow or bull was the fine

and in the worst cases the
culprit was hanged in the middle of his own aoul, and
his body left swinging a whole week as a warning to
permission, for legitimate use.
imposed for every trunk
so felled,
others.
In Tchetchnia there was no system of government nor
any
class distinction
man
every
neighbour as a birthright.
claimed equality with his
But,
like
other democratic
peoples, the Tchetchens were readily subject to the " last

infirmity of noble minds."
fame
in the only
In their eagerness to secure
way open
to them, the
more ambitious
amongst them pushed valour and enterprise on the road

and on the battlefield to their utmost limits; and fame
once acquired brought, as elsewhere, respect and influence
yet no Tchetchen ever attained to supreme authority in his
own
own
country or even in his
Every
good shot
man was
;
his
district.
a born rider, a keen swordsman,
arms (gun or
sword and kindjal) were
rifle,
his most cherished possession, handed

son,
generation after generation
his horse.
The one deep and
and a
down from
father to
and next to his arms,
ineradicable feeling of the
Tchetchen could not possibly be better voiced than in the
words of an English poet

"
steed
a steed
of matchless speed,
sword of metal keen
All else to noble hearts

All else on earth
is
is dross,
mean."
Motherwell.
INTRODUCTION
xxxvii
In religion the Tchetchens were

Mussulmans though
with many a trace of paganism
not yet fanatical, in the
;
earlier days, at least, of their

contact
but apt to become
with the Russians,
There were mosques in the principal

villages where Moullas expounded the
Koran, Arabic being,
as in Daghestan, and throughout the
northern Caucasus,
so.
the language of religion and the only written

tongue. But
until Shamil's advent all civil and criminal
affairs were
decided in the native language by the Adats or Customary
Law, which sanctioned,
or existed
by
side
side with
an
elaborate system of vendetta or blood-feud.
In person the Tchetchens were

slenderly) built,
and
tall, lithe,
and often handsome

and cunning
cruel, treacherous
little
yet, strange as it
traveller
own
to more civilised races.

mountain tribes, was and is
and the man who would
may
peculiar code, to
known
as with all the
sacred duty;
mind, brave
alert in
sound, honourable according to their

a degree
well (though
Hospitality,
still
a most
slay a
chance-met
without pity or remorse for the sake of trifling
would lay down his life for the very same individual
were he to cross his threshold as even an unbidden guest.'
Cattle-lifting, highway robbery, and murder were, in this
gain,
strange code, counted deeds of honour; they were openly

instigated
by the
village
who
ably pretty
maiden
often,
by the way, remark-
scorned any pretender having no such
claims to her favour
and
these,
coupled with fighting
against any foe, but especially the hated Russians, were the
only pursuits deemed worthy of a grown man.
and agricultural work were

slaves,
left
to the
Household
women-folk or
to
the latter being mostly prisoners of war.
was the country; and such were the

peoples who, with no outside assistance, with no artillery
Such, in
brief,
INTRODUCTION
xxxviii
but what they could capture from the enemy, with no trust
but in Allah and His Prophet, their own right hands and
flashing blades, defied the might of Russia for
more than
half a century; defeating her armies, raiding her settle-
ments, and laughing to scorn her wealth, her pride, and
her numbers.
a special claim
fought,
it is
and country.
And
the story of their heroic struggle has
on the sympathy of English readers.
true, for
themselves alone
But they stood
for Faith, freedom,
though
too,
Henry Rawlinson, "So long

they formed
sisted,
onward conquest.
an
unknowingly,
as the mountaineers re-
effective
When
all
In the words of
for the security of British rule in India.

Sir
They
barrier
to
the tide
of
away
was no military or physical obstacle to the continuous march of Russia from the Araxes to the Indus." x
once
they were
swept
there
" England and Russia in the Bast,"
p. 264.
London, 1875.
THE RUSSIAN CONQUEST

OF THE CAUCASUS
PART
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
1829
CHAPTEK I
The Russian approach to the Caucasus First contact Free CossacksEarly relations with Georgia First conflicts with the natives Cossack
colonisation Formation of the great Cossack Line -First crossing of
the mountain chain Summary of events leading to the incorporation
of Georgia in the Russian
Empire
The connection between Eussia and the Caucasus goes back

to the year a.d. 914, when a Varangian expedition from the
mouth of the Dnieper reached the Caspian by way of the
Don and
the Volga, the ships or boats being dragged over-
land from the
first
to the second of those rivers.
In 944,
three years after Igor, Prince of KiefFs attack on Constantinople,
others
Variags) again
of these
made
"Puss"
or
"Eos"
vaded Persia, and captured from the Arabs the

capital of Arran,
(Varangians,
their appearance on the Caspian, in-
now Karabagh.
city of Berdaa,
A little later the
Grand
2nd ed., Book I. v. 129, where the authorities are

The Varangian question, whether the " Russ " were Slavs or Scandinavians, raged at one time with much fury.
The arguments on both sides
will be found impartially summarised in the Russian Encyclopaedic Dictionary.
1
Solovioff, Istoria Rosseet,
given.
English readers may be referred to Professor Vilh. Thomsen's work, "The

Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia and the Origin of the
Russian State " (Three Lectures, &c., Oxford and London, 1877) ; Finlay's
" Greece " (svb nam. Index).
THE CONQUEST OF THE CAUCASUS
Prince Sviatoslav extended his conquests to the river

in the north-west Caucasus,
Kouban
and carried on war against the
Yassi and the Kossogs, supposed to have been the ancestors
modern Ossietines and Tcherkess (Circassians)

and
before the end of the same century these Variags, Kuss
or Russians, had established the Principality of Tmouof the
tarakan, the Tamatarchia of the Greeks, on the peninsula
now
opposite Kertch,
cease, however, in the
called
Taman,
all
which
notices of
Russian chronicles from the year 1094.
The Grand Prince Vladeemir, who converted Russia

Christianity towards the end of the tenth century,
death
left
Tmoutarakan to Mstislav,
"...
with the aid of the Greek Emperor Basil
II.,
whom,
he
finally
and with the Tcherkess, whose chieftain he slew
in single combat."
Later
on his
the latter having
acquired great fame from the wars with the Khazars,
defeated,
to
we hear
of Vladeemir
Monomakh (1113-1125)
obtaining great successes against the Tcherkessi and other

tribes.
Without entering
into the
identity ,of the "Russ,"
much-vexed question of the
and merely noting that early
in
Queen of Georgia, Tamara,

married George, son of the Grand Prince Andrew Bogolioubsky, and that Mikhail of Tver was assassinated in
1319, near Derbend, by the renegade Romanets at the
instigation and under the eyes of the Grand Prince of
Moscow, we may say that the contact of the Russians,
the thirteenth century the great
as a people, with the tribes of the Caucasus
the Russian
conquest of that country
Cossack invasion of the
districts
leading
began
with
Solovioff,
Ibid., 191.
I. vi.
142.
Bambaud,
the
about the mouth of the
Te'rek in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
to
Histoire de la Russie (Paris, 1879), p. 61.

The
Cossacks themselves
origin of the
involved in
is
obscurity, but they first appear in history as
considerable
and lawless communities on the south and
free
east of
the Polish and Moscovite dominions, such as were naturally
engendered during the troublous times following the Tartar
and Mongol
roving bands
invasions.
Nomadic, probably,
they afterwards
mere
at first
down, as opportunity
settled
allowed, at favourable positions along the courses of various

rivers;
and eventually, as times grew more peaceful, added
more primitive occupations of
agriculture to the
and pasturage, without, however, abandoning
fishing
their primary
pursuit, the raiding warfare directed constantly against their
Mussulman neighbours,
occasionally against
Christians of Poland and Moscovy.
their fellow-
Thus were formed,
in
Don, the Volga, and the Ural,
turn, the Cossacks of the
who, as the Eussian princes reasserted or extended their

sway, came, nominally at
first,
under their authority
those of the Ukraine, or Little Russia,
who owed
and
a waver-
ing allegiance to the Kings of Poland, until driven by the
tyranny of that inept race of
and Jewish
oppression
Moscovite
rdzhians,
that
rivals.
Besides
who took
they dwelt
"
their
rulers,
backed by Jesuit
exaction, into the arms -of

all
name
beyond
"
their
these there were the Zapo(Zaporozhtsi) from the fact
that
is,
below
the
rapids
(poroghi) of the Dnieper, their chief settlement being the

sietcha, or fortified
river.
camp, established on an island in that
These people differed considerably in their organisa-
tion from all other Cossack communities
allowed no
of
women
in their camps,
commonwealth, or
if,
as alleged, they
and formed,
republic, of warrior
in fact, a sort
monks.
In any
case they succeeded in realising very thoroughly the ideal
of the French Revolution

1
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
Often incorrectly written Zaporovians.
They,
owned
too,
times the suzerainty of the Polish
at
but their allegiance sat so lightly on them that
kings,
they engaged in constant warfare against the unbelievers,
even when Poland was at peace with both Turk

Tartar.
and
neither asked nor gave quarter, existed on
"They
the plunder of the Infidel, courted danger and martyrdom."

Little Russians
by race, with some admixture of Lithuanian
and Polish elements, 2 they were zealous sons of the Holy

Orthodox Church, not Sectarians or "Old Believers" like
Thrust forward
their cousins of the Don and the Volga.
Crim Tartars and the Ottoman Turks, they

formed the "vanguard of the vanguard" of the Russian
against the
Slavs,
and
in that perilous position maintained themselves,
their liberty
and
privileges, against
Christian and Infidel
alike until Peter the Great captured their stronghold after
Pultova, whereupon they migrated to the Crimea, but were
allowed by the Empress

the Lower Dnieper.
taken place.
The
Anne
to re-establish themselves
Meantime, however, many
fierce, liberty-loving
recognised their former country in
on
changes had
Zaporozhians scarcely
its
altered conditions
and, as their presence seemed incompatible with the security

of the colonists
1775
who had taken
their place, Catherine II. in
finally extinguished the Republic.
orders, occupied
malcontents
Potiomkin, by her
and again destroyed their
sietcha.
fled to the territory of the Sultan;
The
the rest were
organised and embodied as the Black Sea Cossack troops
and
in
1792 the
Isle of
Phanagoria and the eastern shore
of the Sea of Azoff were assigned
them
to dwell in.
In this way the Cossacks gradually occupied the whole

Rambaud, pp. 316 et seq.
Erckert adds Tcherkess Der Ursprung der Kazaken, Berlin, 1882.
3
For interesting details, see Potto, Kavkatsskaya Voind (St. Petersburg,
1897), I. ii. p. 168, and, generally, D. I. Evarnitsky, Istoria Zapordzhskikh
Kaalkoff (St. Petersburg, 1897), 3 vols.
1
THE CONQUEST OP THE CAUCASUS

of the debatable land east
by
little
little
and south of Russia and Poland
drove back the
Mussulman hordes
and in
the course of centuries added belt upon belt of fertile
own possessions, and eventually to

Tsars.
As time went on, despite many
terri-
tory to their
the Empire
of the
vicissitudes,
they steadily gravitated towards Russian allegiance

the
process
slow one
some communities came under
as
first,
but
by the central power was a
of absorption
and, at
the segis of the Princes and afterwards of the Tsars, others
continued to form on the old lines from those individuals or

classes to
whom,
irksome, or
one reason or another, restraint was
for
in their
life
own homes
were the bold and adventurous

time of trouble
fugitives
spirits
from
Such
intolerable.
always numerous in
justice,
from oppressive
when by
taxation, from religious persecutions, and, later
an edict of Feodor Iv&novitch (1584-1598) the peasantry
had been ascribed

increment.
The
the
to
glebe
Nor were
increasing numbers.
vast
runaway
majority of those
men
Cossack ranks were, naturally,
serfs in ever-
these the only sources of
who
joined the
and celibacy had no
attraction for any of them, with the one exception already
Wives they must have, and, as a consequence,

the capture of women formed a main incitement to their
mentioned.
constant raids, a necessary condition, indeed, of their con-
tinued existence and prosperity.
It follows that those
who
represent the Cossacks as almost entirely of Slav blood are

just as wide of the
mark
as those
who
see in them, merely,
the descendants of the Khazar and other Turk or Tartar

tribes.
are of
If one thing
mixed race;
is
for
certain about them,

if,
as
may
fairly
it is
that they
be inferred from
the language and religion of their descendants, the
who formed
at first
the original bands were Slavs, their
men
women,
and for long afterwards, must have been drawn in
great part from the tribes they warred against
amongst
and
is
it
well
known
that male
,or
settled
recruits
from
the same sources joined them from time to time in large
numbers.
guards
In their
wary,
bold, alert;
later
power
their
as
on,
frontierin-
a rampart of ever-growing efficiency against the
creased,
foemen
Infidel
and
earliest days raiders, spies,
colonists,
and,
eventually,
law
settled,
abiding
holding a vast extent of land under military
tenure, the Cossacks, notwithstanding all aberrations
and
rendered very great service to Russia, at
first
defections,
unconsciously, with no intention of benefiting any
quite
but themselves, but later on as loyal subjects of the Tsar.
In both cases
as
free-lances, robbers,
and
pirates,
and as
military communities obedient to the central authority
they carried on with zeal and success the work of conquest
and
colonisation.
Themselves the spontaneous outcome
of circumstances, and guided only by their

desires,
they performed in their
early,
own uncurbed
days a work far
beyond the power of any government then existing in

Russia, and added a vast empire to the comparatively
restricted
domains of the Moscovite princes.
that before this consummation
and independent
their
spirit
was
True
it
is
arrived at their lawless
gave constant cause for anxiety to
nominal or actual suzerains
embroiled them, times
without number, with Turk and Tartar
and more than
once imperilled their dynasties and dominions.

ranks of the Cossacks came the
first
From
the
and second of the
false Dmeetris, and other pretenders.
The
rebellion
of
Stenka Razeen (executed 1671), that of 1706 under Boulavine, that of
Mazeppa
six years later, and, finally, the great
under Pougatche'ff in the time of Catherine the

Great, were one and all Cossack rebellions, and they deluged
rising
southern and eastern Russia with blood.
But
it
must not
be forgotten that this very lawlessness and independence

of spirit had been an element of success, a factor craftily
used on numberless occasions by the Moscovite princes,
whose policy it was to egg on the borderers to harass

and attack their Mussulman neighbours, profit by their
efforts
when
for their
successful,
but repudiate
all
responsibility
misdeeds when called to account by khan or
sultan.
In course of time the Cossacks were brought directly
and
finally
within the fold of the State, and the work of
conquest and colonisation continued under the sagacious
guidance of the central power with more definite aims than

before, but hardly with greater success.
There
is
no
necessity to describe here the growth
and
history of the Cossacks in general, but in the following
sketch of what
comparison
may be
called
in terms of Veliameenoff's
the Eussian approach
Caucasus, and later in more detail,

of
them
to that vast fortress, the
we
shall obtain glimpses
in either phase of their development
and under
both aspects of their service.
According to one
fleeing
down the Don with
Cossacks of Biazan,
tradition, certain
from the wrath of Ivan

their wives
and herds, and crossing over
(1462-1505), floated
III.
and
children, their flocks
to the Volga, followed the
course of that river to the Caspian, and thence reached the
Terek.
Here they found a
settlement, semi-piratical, semi-
commercial, called Tioume"n;

inland,
came
to a halt at the confluence of the
Soundja, that
Grozny.
but continuing their
is to
From
they took the
say,
flight
Argoun and
not far from the present town of
the ranges of hills in this neighbourhood
name
of Grebdntsi, 1 and in the time
of
Ivan IV. (the Terrible) sent a deputation to Moscow asking

1
Grdben, a
comb
or ridê.
pardon, which was granted on condition that they built a

1
mouth of the Soundja, and held it in his name.

Here they came in contact not only with the local tribe,
the Tchetchens, but with the Kabardan princes, who from
their own land between the Terek and the Kouban had
fort at the
extended their authority eastward to the
Koumuik
plain.
The Kabardans were of the noble race of the Adeeghe,

which included the Tcherkess or Circassians proper, and
of Ivan the Terrible's many wives one was Maria, a Tcherkess princess.
In 1579 Yermak and two other outlaws took counsel

at the
mouth of the Volga
refuge from the vengeance
as to
where they should seek
of the
Yermak went
Tsar.
north and east, and eventually added Siberia to the Eussian
dominions.
One
of his companions, Andreya Shadrin, so the
story goes, sailed south
same place
as
and
fortified
Terkee, apparently the
Tioum^n, at the mouth of the T^rek; and a
little later settled at
Andreyevo, the present Enderee.
So far the Russian State was not immediately concerned,

but in 1586 the Iberian 2 Tsar, Alexander, sent ambassadors
Moscow asking help
to
1
A contemporary
"
song
tells
against the
Shamkhal of Tarkou, 3
the story
No grey geese cackling, there, in the field

No eagles that scream in the under-sky
But Gr^ben Cossacks before the

The Tsar Ivan Vasseelievitch.
Tsar,
Little Father of all of us,
Orthodox Tsar,
you give and grant unto us 1
I will give and grant, little Cossacks mine,
The Terek river that runs so free
From the ridge itself to the wide blue sea,
To the wide blue sea, to the Caspian.' "
'
What
will
'
2
Georgia was known to the Greeks and Romans as Iberia, and the name
was used in former times by the Russians and by the Georgians themselves.
3 Shamkhal, as
the title of the Koumuik rulers, dated from the Arab invasion in the eighth century a.d.
Tarkou was afterwards corrupted into
Tarkee by the Russians, probably by analogy with the neighbouring Terkee.
with the result that a force under the Boyar Khvorostin,

in 1594, attacked
and captured the Shamkhal's
capital,
but
was afterwards driven out and, to the number of 7000 men,

annihilated on the banks of the Soulak.
The Tsar Feodor
Ivanovitch, in spite of the ill-success of the Russian arms,
took
to himself, prophetically, the additional titles of

" Lord of the Iberian land, of the Tsars of Georgia and
of Kabarda, of the Tcherkess and Mountain princes."
1596 Moscovite ambassadors journeyed to

in 1599,
two
and
forces,
result.
mised co-operation of the Tsar Alexander

before
and the
Russian
avenge the insult
to
but with no better
suffered,
returning
Tiflis,
Tsar Boris Godounoff sent
five years later the
from Kazan and Astrakhan, 1
and injury
In
failed
The
pro-
as
had
it
which had been joined by
force,
some of the Terkee and Grebentsi Cossacks, was again

cut to pieces by the Shamkhal's troops.
These accounts
of the
on
rest partly
and the date
tradition,
of the Russians on
appearance
first
remains an open question
but
it
is
the Terek
probable that about
the middle of the sixteenth century Tioum^n, afterwards

Terkee, was really founded or fortified by a band of roving
Cossacks or outlaws
that Shadrin led another
the Te"rek to the Aktash and the Soundja
band up
and that from
these two bands came the historical Grebe"ntsi and Tdrek
Cossacks.
It is certain that the former
Government
the
foot-hills
retired
the
geologists Fitch
were found by the
and Herold in 1628
of Tchetchnia,
and that about 1685 they
Meantime
northward to the Terek at Bragounee.
Stenka
celebrated
Tarkou, but, beaten
off
living in
Razeen
had,
in
1668,
by the Shamkhal, had
attacked
sailed south
on his raid into Persia.

In
1707 the Terek Cossacks suffered defeat at the

1
Under Boutourlin and
Pleshtcheyeff.
10
hands of the Khan of Kouba, 1 and five years later the

famous General-Admiral Apraxin, on his return from a
successful
expedition
against
the western tribes, finding
the Gr^ben Cossacks in their settlements on the south or
bank of the Terek, induced them
right
establish themselves in stanitsas
they dwell to this day
and
on
hold
to cross that river,
bank
its left
where
against all comers as
it
loyal servants of the Tsar.
Apraxin in Peter's name gave each
community
to the whole
or regiment a
including
banner
of
the
is
Mikhailovitch
not so clearly
for.
In 1716-17 the Grebe'ntsi, who,
must have been
living all this time
to say friendship, with

princes, furnished
dition,
mace of honour,
Tsar Alexei
(1645-1676), the possession of which
accounted
a rouble, and
together with various trophies,
religiously preserved,
still
man
800
it
is
quite
evident,
on terms of amity, not
some of the Koumuik and Kabardan
men
to Peter's fatal
Khivan expe-
commanded by Prince B6kovitch-Tcherkasky, one
of a family that had adopted the Orthodox religion
and
served Russia devotedly from generation to generation.
Of
the 800 only two came back to
and his skin,
of horror on
B^kovitch-Tcherkasky was flayed
the banks of the T^rek.

alive,
tell that tale
stuffed
with straw, was hung up over
the principal gate of Khiva.

Six years later (1722) Peter himself headed an expedition to the Caucasus, and on his return from the capture
of Derbend, founded the Holy Cross fort on the Soulak, 3

afterwards (1735) abandoned in favour of Kizliar, which,
up
till
1763, was, so to speak, the Eussian capital of the
Caucasus. 4
The Terek Cossacks
Kayeeb Sultan.
From
Akti, preface to vol.
retired
to
their
Cossack military settlements.

a plan furnished by Captain Bruce see his " Memoirs,"
;
i.
p. 294.
old
11
haunts on the lower course of the Terek, and
and
others, to the
number
of 450 families,
Don Cossacks
who had settled
on the Agrakhan channel of the Soulak, 1 filled up the gap

between them and the Grebentsi. These newcomers took
the
name of Terek-Sememy (or family) Cossacks.

The number of aliens amongst the Terek Cossacks was
very great, whole stanitsas being non-Christian; but the

Grebentsi admitted none but Christians, or those who consented to become such.
own wives were of native

probably for the most part Tchetchens, with a mixture of Koumuiks, and to this it is said they owed their
Their
birth,
comparatively advanced agriculture and
much else for, be

remembered, this was not a case of contact between a
civilised and a savage people.
The Cossacks of that day
it
were probably
at
most the equals in
of the
civilisation
Tchetchens and Koumuiks, and certainly the inferiors of

the Adeeghe, to whom belonged the Kabardan princes and
"
people.
Kabarda served
as lawgiver to the Grebentsi in
matters of fashion, and from there they took their light
and convenient military equipment and arms,
their
method
of warfare, djighitovha (feats of skill on horseback), &c."
"...
These people," says M. Popko, "
of their neighbours,
many
of
lived at the
war."
As
forgotten,
with
its
ment, and decoration.
stove.
horse,
spoils
of
and instead appeared the Kabardan ouna,
open gallery and
was,
intro-
regards the houses, the typical Russian izbd
was
village
expense
whose customs they
duced into their settlements, together with the
externally,
its
internal construction, arrange-
All that remained of the Russian
the
street
and,
internally,
the
The Russian telidga (four-wheeled cart), draughtand way of harnessing were likewise abandoned in
1
Potto says 1000 families Kavkazskaya

Makseemoff, Ten-shoe Kazatche Voisko, p.
Popko, Terskoe Voisko, p. 116.
:
5
a
Vointi, I.
15.
i.
39.
12
The Kabar-
favour of two-wheeled arbas, oxen and yoke.
dans were an agricultural people, and the newcomers were

wise enough to follow their example in matters wherein
Two
they had been eminently successful.
both
new
however
to the Eussians
kinds of culture,
were
more probably
borrowed from the Koumuiks, those, namely, of the vine

and of the silkworm, which flourish on the banks of the
Terek to this day, having doubtless been supported through

times of trouble and danger by the Cossack's passion for
drink and his wife's delight in finery.
women
are
The
Grebe"ntsi
now, for their good looks and free
noted,
manners, and both in colouring and features, as well as

in
semi-Oriental costume, they show very strongly
their
the
blood in
strain of native
them and the continuing
influence of Kabarda.
Among
admirable
less
customs borrowed
from
the
was that of putting all the field and domestic work

on their womenkind but like causes produce like effects,
and the Cossacks, who took to marauding as ducks to
natives
water,
even
to
had
if
little
time to give to such peaceful employment,
not infected by their
new
neighbours' notion that
work was beneath the dignity of man.
however, to their
own form
They
of government, all
kept,
matters
affecting the public good being decided in the " military

circle," in
which every Cossack who was of age had a right
The powers of the " circle " were both

and executive it made laws and enforced them
to take his place.

legislative
acted as judge, jury, and executioner

public
officers,
and elected
from the ataman downwards.
its
own
This was
the case for the whole body of Cossacks forming
one
and exactly the same arrangements
"soldiery" (voisko),
held
good
stanitsa
for
within
each
its
separate
own
limits.
settlement,
township,
The law was
that
or
of

custom handed down by tradition
13
and there seems to
have been an appeal from the decision of the stanitsa

circle to that of the
of the latter was
Thus
strife,"
other
whole community; but the sentence
final.
organised, the Cossacks led a
life
and, together with their native
neighbouring
tribes,
extending
even to the waters of the Caspian
of " sturt and
raided
allies,
all
depredations
their
but their most frequent
victims were the wandering Nogai Tartars, a remnant of
Golden Horde.
Through all, however, they remained faithful to the
religion of their Slavonic ancestry, and that, for the future
the
of Russia, was the all-important matter
for they
and their
conquests were in this case sure to revert to the mother-
country at
did
its
last,
though a foolish and bigoted priesthood
best to alienate them, and did, in fact, considerably
widen the
rift
already existing between the Grebentsi and
the Orthodox, as a result, mainly, of their obstinate adherence

to the two-fingered
way
of crossing themselves, and to their
making the round of the
altar as the
sun goes, instead of
the reverse, at the sacraments of marriage, baptism, &c.
The heresy was

had
fled to the
so slight that the real Raskolniki,
Shamkhal's
territory, refused to
who
acknowledge
the Grebentsi and Terek Cossacks as true believers, while

the bishops of Astrakhan,
who
included them within the
ambit of their authority, were content at

the faults of these erring
Peter, severely as
members of
first
their flock
to
;
wink at
and even
he persecuted sectarianism, found
it
pos-
1
In 1573 Thomas Banister and Geoffrey Ducket, servants of the Russia
Company, returning from Persia with great store of valuable merchandise,
were attacked at sea by Cossacks, " outlaws or banished men," who took their
ship and all that was in it, only a small part of the lading being afterwards
recovered by the exertions of the Russian Governor of Astrakhan.
Sectarians.
14

peace owing to their small
sible to leave the Grebe'ntsi in
numbers and the comparative insignificance of their heresy.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, however, pressure
began
to be put
upon them, with the
result that they fell
hands of the Raskolniki popes, and

that already in 1768 half the Greb^ntsi were
into the
it is
estimated
perverts, while
by the beginning of the nineteenth century nearly
all
were
1
at open variance with the Orthodox Church.
So
far
occupied
we have
seen the lower course of the Te*rek
gradually by the
Greb^ntsi Cossacks.
Terek,
Terek
Sem&ny, and
In 1763, for the protection of a
princeling of Little Kabarda,
who had been
converted to
orthodoxy and Russian vassalage, a small fort was built at
Mozdok (mez
dog,
was transformed
350 families of
"the dense
forest"),
and in 1770
which
into a strong fortress, to garrison
Don
this
Cossacks were brought down, while
517 families of Volga Cossacks were distributed along the
gap between them and the
Grebe'ntsi.
All these together
formed the Mozdok Cossack regiment, afterwards recruited
by 200 families of converted Kalmucks from
Saratoff.
As time went on the Line was continued
bit
by
bit to
the Sea of Azoff by the building of forts and stanitsas, and

the transference to them of Cossacks from the Volga, the
Don, and the Dnieper, these being supplemented

as before, from various less regular sources.
largely,
In this way was formed by 1832 the great Cossack Line

of the northern Caucasus, stretching
its
unbroken chain
of military and agricultural communities right across the

isthmus, a distance of over 700 versts (466 miles).
Nor was
this all.
So long as the Cossacks were
left
1 In the other regiments sectarianism

was less rampant, but in 1888 the
Raskolniki still numbered in their ranks 15J per cent, of all the Terek Oossack
population.

much to themselves
now with one, now
pretty
siding
communities with
ever at
strife,
whom
they did as their neighbours,

another, of the petty rulers or
they came in contact
and, though
roused no national animosity, nor any greater
than they could
hostility
15
fairly
But
hope to deal with.
with the growing aggressiveness of the central power, and

especially with the advent of Yermdloff (1816), that move-
ment began which
eventually, under the
name
of Muridism,
brought the Russians face to face with a more or
less united
opposition on the part of the native population of Daghes-
tan and Tchetchnia, and against this the Cossacks unaided
could never have held their own,
less
made good any
Their safety depended thenceforth on
advance.
further
much
the co-operation of the regular troops of the Empire,

in increasing
numbers garrisoned the
interspersed with the
time went on, thrust
and fortresses
forts
points,
stanitsas at suitable
boldly forward
who
into
the
or,
as
enemy's
country.
The burdens put upon

days were very onerous,
the Terek Cossacks in those
for,
in addition to their military
keep up the roads, maintain the postal

repair the ever-crumbling banks of the river, and
duties, they
service,
had
to
provide food and quarters for the regular troops, as well
was that even the

women did not suffice for the cultivation of the fields and
vineyards; and native labourers were bought, or obtained
by capture, to supply the dearth. It cannot be said, howas fodder for their horses.
ever, that actual slavery

least,
was
The
result
established, for, in theory at
these unfortunates could regain their freedom
working
off
a certain valuation set upon them, towards
which each year of labour counted
As
to
on
at a fixed rate.
military obligations, the Greb^ntsi, during the
early years of the nineteenth century,
had
to furnish
one
16
man
per family, which in those days
whom
1000 men, of
one-half
had
made up a
force of
as
cavalry
serve
to
with the forces of the State, while the rest garrisoned
and defended
active service
owing
own
their
was increased
to the prevalent
In 1816 the quota for
stanitsas.
to 700,
and
1819 Yermoloff,
in
drunkenness and disorder, abolished
the right of electing atamans and other
officers,
who were
henceforth nominated by him and his successors, as repre-
The
home government.
sentatives of the
other voiskos
num-
contributed on the same basis in proportion to their

bers,
new
and from time

districts
settled,
new regiments were
to time
and
subsidiary lines
formed,
established in
The Cossacks, be it noted,

and each man was bound to provide
advance of the main position.
were mounted
troops,
own horse and arms.

From the completion of
his
new
many
the Line in 1832 dates a
period, the separate voiskos being converted into so
regiments coming
of the
nisation
strictly
within the general military orga-
Empire.
In 1845 further modifications
took place, and each regiment was henceforth made up

of six sotnias (hundreds), representing as
of the population,
on a
with the
strictly territorial basis,
civil
and
and
stanitsal institutions.
military administration united in the regimental
At the same time they were
confirmed in various privileges
and police
rates,
the
exemption from taxes
from furnishing recruits to the regular
regiments, &c, and in the ownership, in

vast
many thousands
and rich lands taken by
force or
common,
of the
by fraud from the
former native owners.
To complete
the picture
of the
organisation
of the
Cossack Line facing the north-eastern Caucasus in the days

of the war with Shamil
ception,
due,
like so
much
else,
in con-
though not in execution, to Veliameenoff
it
may
17
be added that in case of necessity a reserve could be drawn

consisting of every male inhabitant of the stanitsas
on,
capable of bearing arms, for every Cossack was taught to

ride,
and wield the sword from early childhood,
shoot,
almost from infancy, and, both by inheritance and the

conditions
hardihood
were
organised
mutual
for
and
of forts
self-reliance,
amongst
universal
practically
the chain
Finally,
courage,
of their existence,
stanitsas
and
succour
none
defence,
more than twelve miles
them.
was admirably
all
within supporting distance one of another, and
Soundja
and
apart.
being
on
the
Each had
and watchman on the

look-out night and day. Every movement was communicated to the Line, if necessary, by cannon fire. Thus, two
its
watch tower, with alarm
bell,
shots meant a simple call to arms
four indicated that some
untoward event had occurred, such
as the raiding of cattle,
the killing of herds, or the waylaying of individuals or
small parties, &c.
while eight shots announced an occur-
rence of serious import, such as an attack in force on the

part of the enemy,
and
called for
neighbouring stanitsas or
the signal,
side,
and
if
in
forts.
immediate help from the
These in turn transmitted
need were, to those beyond them on either

this
way
considerable forces could be con-
centrated very rapidly at the point of danger.
Having traced the approach of Eussia along the Caslittoral and to the northern foot of the mountain
pian
range, let us
now
glance briefly at the course of events
which led her across the central chain, and, eventually,

brought her, from sea to
sea,
into contact, immediately,
with Persia and with Asiatic Turkey.

If the Russian invasion of the Caucasus, so far as
have followed
it,
was due
to the lawless
we
movements of
B
18
the Cossacks and the ambitions of Peter and his successors,
we must
admit,
when we come
to speak of the regions
south of the mountains, the existence of a more worthy

motive.
Here
too, doubtless,
diency played their part
ambition and political expe-
but the succour of the Christian
States inhabited by the Kartvel race
and
Kartalinia), Imeritia, Mingrelia,
total ruin threatened
Georgia
and Gouria
(Kakhetia
from
by the unspeakable Turk, and
more unspeakable Persian, was
it
still
as righteous a cause as ever
inspired a military or political undertaking; and,

force of circumstances,
the
by the
was imposed upon Russia, the
only Christian Power that either would, or could,
move
in
the matter.
In the
fertile
valleys watered
had been maintained through

fortune from the end of the fourth century
Rion the Christian

good and
evil
by the Koura and the
faith
by a people few in numbers but renowned
and personal beauty.
for
valour
In the twelfth century, under the
famous Tamara 1 (1184-1212), the Georgian kingdom had

reached the height of
its
power, and the great queen's
fiat
ran unchallenged over the larger portion of the Caucasus.
But
terrible times
were to come.
The Mongol and Tartar
invasions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, fre-
quently repeated with every circumstance of ruthless atrocity,
brought ruin and desolation on the
fair inheritance of
the
Georgian race, and Tamara' s lowland kingdom was broken
up
into the separate principalities above
named
while in
the more mountainous regions the unhappy people, left to

their
own
devices, relapsed into
paganism and a barbarism
from which they have not yet emerged.

1 Queen Tamara must not be confounded with the legendary heroines of
LdrmontofF s two poems, " The Demon," of which there is a readable English
translation by the late Sir A. Oondie Stephen and " Tamara," founded on a
local tradition obviously connected with the worship of the goddess Astarte.
;

Tchenghis
Khan and Timour were
19
succeeded by the
Sultans of Turkey and the Shahs of Persia, and the sub-
sequent history of the

years
Georgian race for four hundred
that of one long martyrdom, culminating in the
is
sacking of
and massacre of the inhabitants in 1795
Tiflis
Muhammad
by the accursed eunuch, Agha
More than once during these
Shah.
centuries of oppression
the Tsars of Kakh^tia and Kartalinia had turned to

for help,
Russia was too far away, and the
but in vain.
Muhammadan
Powers too
Todtleben, with 400
Moscow
But
strong.
men and
at
last,
in 1769,
four guns, crossed the
moun-
by way of the Dariel gorge, entered Tiflis, and the

next year, having meantime been reinforced, marched into
Imeritia, took by storm the strong castle of Bagdat and
tains
captured Koutais, the capital, which had been held by the
Turks
for
In 1774 the treaty of Kutchuk-
120 years.
Kainardji put an end to Turkish domination in Imeritia
and
Georgia,
and
in
as
the
Kouban
river
the
north-west
boundary
established
between
Russia
the
and
Turkey.
Irakli II., Tsar of Kakhe'tia
relieved of all
Turks, but they
man
and Kartalinia, was now
fear of direct hostility

still
on the part of the
gave secret support to the Mussul-
mountaineers; and when Ali Mourad, the new Shah
of Persia, reversing the policy of his predecessor,
Khan,
insisted
on Georgian subjection,
turned, as his ancestors
had done,
Kerim
Irakli, in despair,
to the
Northern Power,
whose dominions were now separated from his own solely

by the mountain chain, and implored protection. The commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in the Caucasus was at
1
In 1658 Taimuraz, Tsar of Iberia (Georgia), came to
implore the aid of Alexis against the Turks and Persians.
Shah had
his
as a vassal
commandant and
Akti, vol.
i.
p. 70.
garrison in
Tiflis,
Moscow
in person to
In Peter's time the
and treated the Georgian king
20
that time (1783) Lieut. -General Count Paul Potiomkin (Po-
temkin),
first
cousin of Catherine's favourite, the celebrated
prince of that name.
The
his Turkish conquests,
had already
engaged in consolidating
latter,
in
view the establishment
of Russian influence, if not authority, in Transcaucasia;
and, acting under his instructions, Count Paul hastened to
embrace the favourable opportunity now
There
offered.
was no road over the central chain, nothing more than

a bridle-path of the roughest kind, and the passage through
the Dariel defile and on over the pass above
Kazbek and
Rock and
K6bi was fraught with every danger.
ice falls
were of frequent occurrence below, avalanches above
and
the northern half of the route was in the hands of the

Ossietines,
who
levied toll
on
all passers-by,
and were so
powerful and truculent in these, their native, fastnesses,
men with two guns was barely

Academician Guldenstedt, who with
that in 1772 a force of 600

sufficient to relieve the
his party
had been cut
Tsminda
from
(St.
Stephan,
off
by them
now
Potiomkin's
Tiflis.
at the village of
Stepan
Kazbe'k) on his return journey

first
care
was
to
build a
fort,
Vladikavkaz, where the Te*rek issues from the mountains,
and connect
was
it
by
fortified posts
with Mozdok.
to convert the bridle-path into
His next
something in the nature
and such was his energy and that of the 800

Russian soldiers employed on the work, that in October
of a road
1783 he was able to drive
by eight horses.
By
to Tiflis in
a carriage
drawn
this time
Catherine had
already taken Irakli II.
1 The distance from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis

is about 145 miles, the height of
the pass 7977 feet. Dr. Merzbacher finds it strange that the height is variously
given by different authors, but the explanation is simple. The road at the
summit of the pass has been lowered at least three times since it was first
made. Aus den Hochregionen des Kaukasm, Gottfried Merzbacher, 2 vols., Leipzig,
1901.
21
nominally under her protection, for by an Act signed at Gori
on the 24th
July, the latter
had acknowledged himself a
and on the 3rd November two Russian
vassal of Russia,
battalions with four guns, having crossed the mountains
by the newly-made road, entered
Tiflis in
The day
triumph.
was cold and gloomy, and the shivering Georgians remarked

that their
new
friends
had brought
but they had brought
permanent
Persian and
hoped
or at least
the Tartar and
their climate with
something else
them
was thought,
it
protection, that
against
is,
the sorely-tried inhabitants
They were doomed, however,
of Tiflis rejoiced accordingly.
Catherine's proclamation estab-
to bitter disappointment.
lishing her suzerainty over Georgia
was published
at Tiflis
25th January 1784, but the Russian troops were soon withdrawn, and
in
absence
the
protection
military
of
Empress's interference proved worse than useless
and contributed thereby
to exasperate Persia,
of
sion
Agha Muhammad.
it
the
helped
to the inva-
Russia then declared war,
and an army was despatched under command of Count

Zouboff, which in 1796 took Derbend, Kouba, and Baku,
and conquered
the
city
latter
the
all
and
Persian khanates
the
eastern
But the great Empress died soon
lying
between
of
Georgia.
confines
after;
Paul succeeded;
and the Russian troops were once more withdrawn north

Derbend and Baku were abandoned,
of the mountains.
and
only
became
permanent
possessions
of
Russia
in
1806.
In 1799 Vladikavkaz, meantime abandoned and destroyed,
was
rebuilt
main
for the third time a
range to Tiflis
and a year
Russian force crossed the
later, just
before the death
of the Tsar George XII., Georgia, by a manifesto (18th

1
December 1800) of the Emperor Paul, who was then
1
Confirmed by Alexander
I.
on the 12th September
of the
next year.
22
meditating the
Russia.
1
invasion of India, was finally united to
That country now had
to
face
the
permanent
and that being so, the

presence of independent Mussulman tribes and communities
within her own borders constituted a danger such as no
hostility
of Turkey and
Persia,
would willingly endure.
State
The subjugation of the
mountaineers by Russia was thenceforth a necessity

in the long run,
it
was
and,
inevitable.
In September 1800 an embargo was laid on English vessels in Russian

Next year Paul decided to take the offensive, and on the 12th
January 1801 gave the Ataman of the Don, General Orloff, orders to march
on India with all his troops. A little more than a month later (27th February)
the Cossacks to the number of 22,507 men, with 24 guns, without transport,
stores, or maps, began the campaign
the troops marched in four echelons,
one commanded by Platoff specially set free from the fortress of St. Petersburg for the occasion. The Cossacks, who suffered great privations, had only
crossed the Volga (18th March) when they received notice of the Emperor's
death Russian Biographical Dictionary, article " Paul I."
1
waters.
CHAPTER
II
1722-1771
Peter's campaign
Derbend
more
occupied Peter returns to Moscow His lieuBaku Their further successes Under Anne the Russians
Terek Catherine the Great Strengthening the LineWar
Todtleben crosses the mountains The Russians retire once
Platoff's action
Flight of the Kalmuck Tartars
tenants take
retire to the
with Turkey
The conquest
approach,
of the Caucasus, as distinct from the Cossack
begins with
Peter
the
Great's
campaign, the
outcome of those views which, embodied in his alleged

political testament, apocryphal or not,
have since the time
Emperor Paul been part of the inheritance of the

Russian people. The ill-fated expedition to Khiva (1717)
had been undertaken partly with a view to opening up,
of the
if possible,
a commercial route to India
by the result of
this
first
attempt,
and, undismayed
no sooner had the
happy termination of the war with Sweden
relieved Peter
of anxiety in that direction, than he determined to try his

fortune once more in the east and south, and this time
in person.
Persia at this time was in a most miserable and
Afghan invasion under

Mahmoud, a very monster of cruelty. The Turks profited
by the occasion to encroach upon their neighbour's territory,
distracted condition, thanks to the
and
Peter, alarmed for the safety of his trade-route of the
future, determined to prevent their
approach to the Caspian
by occupying the whole of the coast provinces himself.

It is true that
there
was no
Power.
Russia and Persia were at peace, and that
justification for
an armed attack on the
But, just at the right
latter
moment, a plausible pretext
was supplied by the plundering,
to the value of half a
24
million roubles, of certain Russian subjects at
Shemakha,
the capital of Shirvan, by mountaineers of Daghestan,

against whom the Shah, their nominal suzerain, was power-
Indeed when, somewhat
less.
ambassador
tardily, Peter's
arrived at the Court of Isfahan in 1722 to
demand
redress,
he found that Shah Sultan Husayn had been forced to

abdicate by
Mahmoud, who repudiated
responsibility,
all
saying "that he was desirous of living upon good terms
warlike prince
neither
his
fame had represented as a wise and

but as the people he complained of were
whom
with the Tsar,

;
nor
allies
subjects,
he could not prescribe
laws to them, nor be accountable for their conduct.

therefore
recommended
him
to
He
to provide for the security
caravans henceforward by strong convoys, unless
of the
he chose to enter into an alliance with those nations

through whose
enough
territories
for Peter,
who
they were to pass."
This was
no time in completing his pre-
lost
parations for the invasion of Persian territory.

It
was now
for the first
settlements on the
time that the line of Cossack
Lower Terek,
hitherto viewed mainly
as a defensive position, proved its utility as

base,
furnishing,
moreover,
value to the regular army.
with
all
stores
Astrakhan,
Of
contingent
an aggressive
of exceptional
this the foot
and
artillery
and munitions of war were collected
and thence shipped
to
the
mouth of
at
the
Soulak, while the cavalry marched overland to the same

destination by
The
way
of
Mozd6k and the Koumuik
steppes.
numbered 22,000 men, veterans

who had fought throughout the Swedish war. The cavalry
regular infantry alone
consisted of 9000 dragoons,

Kalmucks, and Tartars. 2
besides
Hanway's Historical Account, &c,
Solovi6ff, xviii. chapter
i.
671.
vol.
iii.
70,000
chapter
Cossacks,
xxiii.

The
25
arrived at the spot chosen for landing on
flotilla
the 27th July 1722, and Peter, carried by four boatmen,

the
shallowness of the water not allowing his barge to
reach the shore, was the
The news
first
to disembark.
now reached him was
that
disquieting nature.
portion
of a somewhat
of the cavalry had been
detached to occupy the village of Enderee, on the Aktash,
and had suffered a reverse it was called a disaster at

the hands of the Tchetchens.
This was the first time
that Russian regular troops had
that tribe
in
their
native
ominous of what was
come
forests,
to take place
sions during the ensuing 130 years.
in
contact with
and the result was

on numberless occaIt will
be seen that
in the history of the conquest of the Caucasus the forest
fighting against the Tchetchens played a part second in
importance
tribes of
only to
Daghestan
mountain warfare against the

cost Russia an even greater ex-
the
;
it
penditure of blood and money, and led to more extensive
and more sanguinary
The
first
disasters.
report as to the affair near Enderee proved,
The brigadier, Vetea wooded defile, but had
however, to have been exaggerated.

rani,
been
had
suffered
extricated
Kalmuck
some
by
loss in
Colonel
Naoumoff.
Peter
sent
punitive expedition against the Tchetchens, and
having assembled his army, made, with the Empress, his

state
entry into Tarkou, the
12th of August.
camp on the
Shamkhal's
Three days later he
capital,
returned
on the
to
his
seashore, and, after service in the campaign-
ing church of the Preobrazhe'nsky regiment, gathered a
few stones together, his immediate followers adding others

till the heap became a mound, on the site of the present
town of Petrovsk,
century
later,
in
so
named when founded, more than a
honour of the great Tsar's presence on
26
this occasion.
Next day Peter
out for Derbend, the
set
left to
head of his army
at the
flotilla
with
stores,
&c, being
follow coastwise.
Meantime proclamations were sent

makha, and Baku disclaiming on the
to
Derbend,
She-
of the Tsar
part
any ambitious views, and giving as the reasons for his

presence a desire "to rescue the King of Persia and his
and
loyal subjects from the tyranny of the Afghans,

chastise these rebels for the disorders
and excesses which
they had committed against the Russians."
Shah had
that the deposed
to
Bruce
actually begged for
states
Russian
assistance.
The Shamkhal, Adil Gherem, Sovereign Lord of the

Koumuiks, who must not be confounded with the KaziKoumoukhs, 2 dwelling in the mountains farther south,
had received Peter as a friend, and offered him every
assistance.
Akhmet Khan, Outsmi
importance
in
authority
of
those
native
of Karakaitagh, next
who
rulers
dated
from the establishment of Arab dominion in
Daghestan in the eighth century, took a very

line.
their
Cossack
officer
different
and three men sent to him with
a letter from the Tsar, couched in conciliatory terms, were
put to death, and, gathering an
Akhmet attempted
to
bar the
army of 16,000 men,
way
to
the Russians at
Outemish, a few miles inland from Kayakent.
might have been foreseen.
As
in
other
The
parts
world, the native levies in the Caucasus, however
rous
result
of the
nume-
and however brave, have never been able to stand
against the disciplined forces of a more civilised neigh-
bour in the open, whatever success they might, and did,

achieve
1
2
witness
a hundred
instances in Daghestan and
Hanway, ut supra.
Both Russian and foreign writers frequently
fall
into this egregious error.
in
Tchetchnia
We
and mountain
depths
forest
fastnesses.
men
have Peter's own testimony that the
of Kara-
The
but in vain.
kaitagh fought with desperate valour,
27
Russians gained a complete victory; Outemish was taken
and burnt, and all prisoners hanged in revenge of the

murder of the Russian envoys. Derbend, which had
been waiting the result of the
course
of
action,
made
determine on
fight to
haste to
August the Khan, accompanied by the Moullas,

and
came out
others,
salt,
to
on a
plate
silver
The Tsar then made
notables,
meet the victor with bread and
and presented Peter with the keys of the
fortress
its
submit; on the 23rd
covered with cloth
city
of
his entry in state at the
and
gold.
head of
his troops, but before doing so, a slight shock of earth-
quake
occurring,
Peter,
conqueror at Pevensey,
turned
it
to his
herself gives
me
in
the
seized
advantage.
"
of
spirit
the doubtful
Lo
cried
"
a solemn welcome and
walls to tremble at
Derbend owed
my power
its
Norman
omen and
the
he,
"
Nature
makes the very
importance to a unique position on
one of the highroads between Europe and Asia; for the

strip of
low land between the mountains of Daghestan and
the Caspian Sea, from Petrovsk to the Apsheron peninsula,

affords the
only level route from north to south in the
whole of the Caucasian isthmus,
the
only one, indeed,
that does not involve the passage of lofty mountains and
rugged denies.
In no place more than a few miles wide,
except where the

is
Samour
flows
down
to the sea, this strip
here reduced to such narrow dimensions as to admit of
being easily barred against an enemy approaching from
Derbend could hardly be turned, in former

by land or by sea, for the latter was stormy and
either side, yet

times,
These trophies are now
in St. Petersburg.
28
dangerous, without any harbours, the former rugged to a
degree and peopled by fierce and independent tribes.
The
timately
Derbend were
fortunes of
most part
for the
bound up with those of Persia, whose
in-
rulers, native
or foreign, could not fail to realise the strategic importance
be wondered at that the Arabs,

after the overthrow of the Sassanian dynasty, lost little time
of the position, nor
is it
to
in extending their conquest to
what was
rightly considered
the northern gate of Persia. 1
While
at
Derbend, Peter broke with his own hands a
window through
the wall of the
room he occupied
in the
Khan's palace that he might watch the waters of the Caspian,

over the city at his
But though,
as
always stormy,
Horace
it is
One such caught
tells us,
even the Caspian
subject to frequent
the
flotilla
ships, while thirty others
on
its
and violent
is
not
gales.
way, wrecking twelve
reached Agrakhan in such plight
The consequent shortage in

and munitions of war made an advance in force im-
that they could go

stores
the coming of his transports.
feet, for
no
farther.
possible at that late season of the year
was not in
Peter's nature,
and
as to sit idle
leaving a strong garrison
in
Derbend he marched back to the Te'rek, thence set sail for

Astrakhan, and on the 13th December made a triumphal
entry into Moscow. 2
But before leaving Astrakhan, on the

Vazir and people of Kesht,
invitation of the
who were then
threatened by
the Afghans, he despatched Colonel Sheepoff (6th November)

1
For description of Derbend and the famous walls, see Abercromby,
" A Trip through the Eastern Caucasus," London, 1889.
1
Such is the Russian version, no doubt the correct one. Bruce states
positively that Peter retired at a day's notice on being threatened with a
declaration of war by a Turkish envoy (" Memoirs," p. 289, London, 1782).
Hanway gives no reason for Peter's return, but relates in detail the mission
of the Turkish envoy after Peter's withdrawal from the Caucasus: vol. iii.
chapter xxvi.
29
with an expeditionary force down the Caspian with instructions to seize
and hold the province of Ghilian.
SheepofF,
who had with him two battalions of regular infantry, sailing

fast, made a sudden appearance at Resht, and occupied that
town and harbour before the Persians, who meantime had
changed their mind, could gather
in sufficient strength to
oppose him.
The Russians posed as friends and allies of the young

Shah Tamasp, and opponents of the Afghan invaders or
rebels,
as they were
hostile
from the
called.
But the inhabitants proved
and when the newcomers cut wood for
grumbled, saying, " Our forests serve to pay the Shah's
fuel,
and denied having invited them. 1
taxes,"
The
and
first,
Persians soon gathered a force of some 15,000 men,
became
their attitude
so threatening that the Russians
were driven to entrench themselves, a proceeding that gave

In February messengers arrived from the
further offence.
Shah with peremptory orders to evacuate Resht under pain

of expulsion, and towards the end of March the Persians
began firing on the town, whereupon Sheepoff sallied out
and, taking them both in front and in rear, routed them
with a loss of over 1000
Russians' beat off
their
from
ships.
this
Russian
The
killed.
About the same time 100
5000 Persians who ventured to attack

4
relations
between Russia and Persia
time onward until 1732 were strangely confused.

historians recognise
practically the
a state of war as existing
whole time, the enemy being sometimes the
Afghans, sometimes the Persians themselves.

tions were carried
alliance
on almost continuously, and a
with Shah Tamasp actually signed.
that the Afghans having taken Isfahan

part of the country, Russia
1
Solovi6ff,
Yet negotia-
XVIII.
i.
truth
and overrun a
and Turkey hastened
p. 680.
treaty of
The
'
is
large
to occupy
Ibid., p. 681.
30
what was
and the consequent
left,
The key
very nearly to blows.

found, as far as Russia
is
rivalry
brought them
to the situation
is
to
be
concerned, in the vital importance
attached by Peter and his successors to safeguarding the
Caspian against Turkish aggression.
The following year General Matioushkin took Baku

(25th July 1723), an event that
he looked upon
The khanates
of
Baku and
and when,
made
the Turks,
to all our business."
On
and Astrabad, were rapidly

time, an
short
in England's despite,
strength and Persia's

farther inland.
for a
key
Peter with joy, for
Shirvan, and the Persian pro-
vinces of Ghilian, Mazanderan,
occupied,
filled
that city as " the
alliance with
added to Russia's
her conquests spread even
difficulties,
12th September a treaty was signed
between Russia and Persia, by which the Tsar undertook

to drive out the
the
Afghans and establish Shah Tamasp on
throne, the latter in return
ceding in perpetuity to
Russia the towns and dependencies of Derbend and Baku,
with the provinces of Ghilian, Mazanderan, and Astrabad. 2
But next year Prince Meshtchersky,
specially accredited for
the purpose, failed to secure ratification, and going and
coming
his life
The
was attempted.
history of this, the
first,
with feats of adventurous daring

of
men
was
victories
won by
is filled
handfuls
towns and fortresses stormed and

provinces overrun but as, in the end, nothing
over thousands
captured
Russo-Persian war
retained,
this
brilliant
episode
contributed
little
nothing directly to the conquest of the Caucasus.

tribes
the
to
north
or
The
grew more and more troublesome
by internal dissensions, was once more united

under Nadir Shah; and the Porte, which in 1F24 had
Persia, torn
concluded a treaty with Russia, again became hostile.

1
Solovioff, 682.
Hanway,
vol.
iii.
p. 181.
In

1732, two years after her accession, the Empress
restored to Persia everything south of the Koura,
31
Anne
and three
years later, war with Turkey being inevitable and Nadir
threatening to join forces against her unless
Baku and
Derbend were also surrendered, Anne, by the treaty of

Gandja, abandoned the rest of Peter's conquests and agreed
to the withdrawal of the Eussian forces to the old Line of
the Terek.
Nadir resumed
hostilities
was
and, having beaten them,
free to
against the Turks
march on Kandahar
and India (1739).

To give way under compulsion was humiliating indeed
but the blow was softened to Russia by two considerations
the deadly climate of Ghilian had
made
that province a
very graveyard to the army of occupation; and, after

the chief aim of Russia's Persian policy was secured.
all,
With
Nadir on the throne, there was no danger of the Turks

being allowed to approach the Caspian.
Nor were the

years fruitless in
out,
efforts
and
some other
sacrifices of the past thirteen
respects.
As Ziisserman
was during these years that the
it
soldiers
points
of the
Tsar laid the foundations of those qualities for which the

regiments of the Caucasus were afterwards famous.
Many
of these regiments were constituted at this time, forming

" Persian "
part of the
his successors,
army corps of Matioushkin and
and their record
is
one of which any army
and any nation might well be proud.
From
Anne,
years
the
five
treaty
years
of Gandja,
later,
1735,
to
the death of
and on through the twenty-one
of Elizabeth's reign, Russia's only concern in the
eastern Caucasus was the defence of the Line on the T^rek,
then extending
the
little
farther inland from the Caspian than
mouth of the Soundja

1
and even here the
central
Istoria Kabardeenskavo Polkd, 3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1881.
power
32
seems to have
left
to their
own
extols the dauntless valour
and
the Cossacks very
much
devices.
Russian historian
superhuman
requisite
efforts
Koumuiks,
against the united forces of the Daghestanis,
Tchetchens, and Kabardans.

that
Had
Cossacks.
But
it
may
they done
so,
against the
the latter could not possibly
They must
have withstood them.
be asserted
safely
native tribes never did unite
these
all
struggle
maintain the
to
either have been anni-
hilated or driven out, unless supported in strength by the
regular troops of the Empire.
was one of constant,

even to our
own
None
if petty, strife,
the less their
and then, as
life
ever,
times, the Cossack ploughed his field
up
and
gathered his harvest with sword on thigh and musket on

back.
Then, as
home
defend his
ever,
he was frequently called upon
to
against raiding bands, and take part in
turn in similar raids, directed
now
against one,
now
another
of the neighbouring tribes.
died in
Elizabeth
December 1761.
ceeded, and was soon murdered.
reigned alone, and the
affairs
Peter
III.
suc-
From 1762 Catherine
of the
Caucasus at once
attracted her attention.
With
intuitive
genius the great Empress grasped at
once the importance of maintaining and extending the
families
of his people,
Kabardan renegade, with forty

was encouraged to found Mozddk, and
in 1763, the
new
settlement could boast of an Orthodox
Cossack Line.
Church and a
part
fortified outpost
Mozdok was
emblems
Potto,
I.
i.
of the important
destined to play in the conquest of the
Caucasus and the conversion of some, at

1
already,
least,
of
its in-
59.
The Kabardans in early times were for the most part very friendly to
Russia, and often enough took her side against other native tribes. In 1764
Catherine offered a reward of Rs. 3000 to the Kabardan princes for aid givon
seven years previously against the Tchetchens.

habitants to Christianity
has
since
33
on the Tdrek
for this village
been called the corner-stone of the
Russian
conquest, and was certainly the starting-point of Russia's
missionary activity amongst the Ossietines.
Even Cathe-
rine could hardly have realised the full significance of her
action
but
is
it
characteristic
of
genius to formulate
thoughts and adopt measures wise in themselves, the results

of which go far beyond their author's anticipations.
Meantime, however, the

claimed the
site
justly,
was disquieting.
Russia
of Mozd<5k on the strength of the treaty
The Kabardan
of Belgrade.
and
effect
princes considered
it
theirs,
no doubt, in virtue of the fact that they had
been in the habit from time immemorial of pasturing
and cutting wood
sheep
be their own
territory
Mozdok became, as
their
runaway
filled to
the vicinity.
of a Russian fortress
the building
to
in
it
slaves,
overflowing.
To
witness
on what they held
was galling enough, but when
speedily did, a place of refuge for
the measure of their patience was
They
sent deputies to St. Petersburg
urge their claims or lodge their protests, and, failing
to
to obtain satisfaction, broke out into
open
hostility, lasting
from 1765 to 1779, and marked by many a desperate fight;

for these people were in civilisation the most advanced of
the tribes, in valour second to none.
Nor was
case,
this
all.
Turkey, whatever her rights in the
viewed the construction of the new
misgiving,
and
made diplomatic
fort
with grave
at
representations
the
Russian Court.
i
Akti,
i.
p. 82.
It
would be unfair to the natives to forget
that, time after
with the northern invaders down to the last

time, from
western tribes
shameful act of the conquest, the wholesale expatriation of the
treacherous dealeven
and
unjust
Russia's
of
evidence
upon
come
in 1864, we
confined to Russian sources
ing with them, and this though we are perforce
for our information.
their earliest contact
34
The College of Foreign

Turkish
susceptibility,
commandant of
the
Affairs did its
utmost to soothe
but at the same time secretly ordered

Major- General Potapoff, to
Kizliar,
proceed with the fortification of Mozdok, though as quietly

as possible
instructions
energy, that by 1765 the
carried out with such zeal
new
and
settlement was a place of
In June of that year the exaspe-
considerable strength.
rated Kabardans besieged Kizliar, and failing to capture
that
important stronghold,
steppe.
It
was
this
devastated
neighbouring
the
and other raids that led
to the trans-
ference of the Volga Cossacks to the Terek in 1769 under

their ataman, General Savelieff, a
to the strength
had
to face
most important addition
and extent of the Line.
The newcomers
the hostility not only of the Kabardans and
Kalmuck nomads
Tchetchens, but of the
to the north
but with the courage and tenacity of their race, the only
true colonisers besides the British,
they held their own.
It is to these qualities
and
to the
and sword, mainly
the
hands of the Cossacks, that
in
combination of plough
Russia owes to-day the extent of her empire and the
and south.
safety of her boundaries, east
Turkey,
with Russia's assurances, declared
dissatisfied
war on the 18th November 1768, and the Caucasus was

included in the
field
of operations, as indeed on
For
sions of a like nature.
it
was
to Russia's
all
occa-
advantage
weaken the forces

war on the Danube
to create a diversion that could not but
of her adversary in the main theatre of

or the Dniester, or in the
had much
to
Crimea
while Turkey, similarly,
hope from the co-operation of the Mussulman
whose greed and fanaticism
tribes of the Caucasus,
it
was
Kizliar
was
so easy to arouse.
The war was waged with

1
Akti,
various fortune.
i.
p. 82.

taken and
all its
35
inhabitants put to the sword by a raiding
party of Kisteens or Mountain Tchetchens.
But
this
and
other successes were more than outbalanced by the results of

Todtleben's expedition to Georgia and Imeritia, though the
campaign
itself
was
some respects a
in
failure.
Todtleben,
one of the strangest figures in the history of those times,
was a German by
birth,
an adventurer who, having entered
the Russian service in the time of Elizabeth, achieved in
1760 undying fame by his sudden capture of Berlin.
The
following year, possibly in connection with the death of
the Russian Empress, he prepared to betray his trust, was

arrested by his
own
condemned
death by quartering.
to
officers,
and
after
an exhaustive inquiry,
Catherine
commuted
the sentence to banishment, and on the outbreak of the
Turkish war restored him to the rank of major-general,
and sent him
to the Caucasus.
In 1769, as already stated,
Todtleben crossed the mountains, and having restored to
Solomon, Tsar of Imeritia,
dom, he advanced on
12,000
Koutaiis, the capital of his king-
Poti, dispersed
men which attempted
to bar
siege to that important stronghold.

serted him.
Poti held out stoutly.
a Turkish army of
the way, and laid
But fortune now deTodtleben had become
web of intrigue, due, no doubt, in

his own hot-headedness and fantastic
involved in a
great
measure to
char-
acter
and mutual recriminations between himself and the
Georgians, Imeritians, Gourians, and, above
all,
the Russians,
reached such a pitch that Catherine, alarmed at the possible results
so
of such a state of things, recalled him, and
ended his strange

His
but foreseeing
Tiflis.
and
career.
successor, Soukhotin, continued the siege of Poti

failure,
pretended sickness, and returned to
Tsar Solomon again complained
to the
Empress,
Catherine, heartily sick of the whole business, ordered
36
the
withdrawal of the Russian forces to the Line, an
operation carried out in the spring of 1772.
The war went on in the northern Caucasus, and was

made memorable by the heroic resistance in the open
Nogai steppe of the Ataman 1 of the Don Cossacks, Pldtoff,
with 2000
so widely celebrated,
afterwards
men
against
a Turkish and Crim-Tartar army of 25,000, and the successful defence of the
Naour
stanitsa
against 8000 Turks and tribesmen.
by Mozd6k Cossacks
The Cossack women
on this occasion fought alongside their husbands and sons,
and with equal valour; but the sudden retreat of the

besieging force was attributed to an apparition recalling
that of the Heavenly Twins at the battle of Lake Regillus.
It was the day of the Holy Apostles Bartholomew and
Barnabas, who, seeing the desperate position of the besieged,
made
their appearance dressed in white
on white horses, and
riding along the enemy's front, instilled such panic fear that
A chapel
the latter fled incontinently.
Naour commemorates both

11th July
It
is
still
was during
fact
in the church at
and tradition
and the
the great festival at this stanitsa.

this
war
(in
1771) that a vast majority
of the Kalmucks, disgusted by the treatment meted out
them by their Russian allies, struck their tents and fled

from the Volga to the confines of China. 3 The remainder
moved westward to the plains midway between the Caspian
and Black Seas, where their descendants still roam.
to
Altered from hetman, the word used by the Poles and Little Russians
said to be derived from or equivalent to "
Akti,
See
i.
De
headman
"
Euss. Encycl. Diet.
p. 88.
Quincey's " Revolt of the Tartars," a fantastic performance, magbut historically beneath contempt. Professor Masson in
nificent as literature,
his edition of
De
Quincey's works (vol.
necessary corrections.
vol.
ii.
p. 171.
But
vii. pp. 368

see also " Turkestan,"
supplies most of the

by Eugene Schuyler, 1876,
et seq.)
CHAPTEE
III
1771-1796
Peace with Turkey Derbend reoccupied and again abandoned The Line
extended the Kouban The Nogai Tartars Their subjugation by Souvoroff Count Potiomkin, first Viceroy of the Caucasus Colonisation
Shaykh-Mansour Tchetchen victory The first forest disaster Battle
of Tatartoub
Shaykh-Mansour goes to the western tribes -War with
Turkey First and second attempts on Anapa Hermann defeats Batal
Pasha Anapa taken Shaykh-Mansour a prisoner His death Strengthening of the Line Agha Muhammad's sack of Tiflis War with Persia
Zouboff appointed to the command-in-chief
Peace being established between Eussia and Turkey by

the treaty of Kutchuk Kainardji * the latter could no
longer openly support the tribes, though secret encourageand
ment
assistance
were
given
The Eussians were once more

divided attention to the
as
freely
as
before.
able to devote their un-
strengthening of the Line and
the consolidation of their power
both
east
and west
the tribesmen reverted to their desultory, undeclared warfare,
which, in spite of occasional successes, could put no
On the Caspian
permanent check on Eussia's advance.
by the long
emboldened
the Outsmi of Karakaitagh,
absence
of
any manifestation
of Eussia's
power,
com-
mitted various outrages, culminating in the seizure of the
Academician Gmelin, who, relying on personal acquaintance with that ruler, chose the land route on his return
from a
scientific
mission to Persia.
Gmelin, heart-broken,
soon died in captivity at Kayakent; and the Empress,

who valued him highly, and felt, moreover, her own dignity
ordered General
involved,
1
Medem, now commanding on
Signed 10th July 1774,
ratified 13th
$7
January 177$,
38
the Line, to attack the outsmi and ravage his dominions.
Medem
(March 1775) to
arrived
point of surrendering to the

that had lasted
nine
Derbend on the
find
common enemy
after a siege
The Karakaitaghans
months.
re-
treated on the approach of the Russians, but were met

and their forces defeated in a pitched battle, whereupon
the Russian commander proceeded to carry out ruthlessly
Catherine's instructions.
But not content with this, he
occupied Derbend, the ruler of which, Feth Ali Khan,
was a vassal of Persia

utterly unjustifiable
one
of
many high-handed and
committed, from time to time,
acts
by Russia against that country, and

future
able
reprisal
to
if,
instant
treasured
up
for
as now, circumstances were unfavour-
Medem
action.
returned to
Soon
leaving a small force at Derbend.
merchant vessel was cast ashore
after,
Line,
a Russian
neighbourhood
the
in
the
and pillaged by order of Feth Ali Khan, who, to conceal

his share in the transaction, put all the
The
affair
for fear of
rine
leaked
out,
crew to death.
notwithstanding;
probably
but,
provoking a war with Persia, for which Cathe-
was not then prepared, no punishment was exacted.
The Russian detachment was recalled its commander,

Major Krudener who had meantime suffered a reverse
;
in the
two colours
neighbouring mountains, losing
duced to the ranks
and Derbend,
for the
re-
second time,
abandoned.
Medem was
succeeded
in
the
autumn of 1777 by
General Yakobi, but the military forces in the Caucasus

being then divided into two army corps, the Caucasian
and the Kouban, he was appointed
mer
only, while the latter
Souvoroff.
By
1
the
to
command
was entrusted
united
efforts
the for-
to the celebrated
of these
" Anglicfe Suwarrow," as Byron says.
two
com-
39
manders during the ensuing five years Russia's position

on the western portion of the border-line was very much
strengthened,
and
foundation
solid
laid
future
for
success against the tribes inhabiting the country between
the Te"rek and the Black Sea coast.
may be
It
regarded
had they been followed by leaders of

equal capacity and energy, backed by such a government
as
certain
as
that
that
the war in
of Catherine,
quarter
that
Caucasus would not have lingered on, as

best part of a century.
It
of the
did, for the
was Prince Potiomkin who
chose them for their commands, and
much
it
it
probable that
is
what they effected is properly

who was meantime occupied
of the credit for
due to that singular genius,
in finally extinguishing the independence of the Crimea,
abandoned by Turkey to
Yakobi founded the
its
own
devices in 1778.
fortresses
Gheorghievsk, and Stavropol,
of
initiated
Ekatereenograd,
the
colonisation
by Crown peasants of the present government of Stavropol, and completed the Line from Mozd6k to Rostoff
(then known as Fort Dmeetri) by the addition of six
minor
forts.
The
settlers
in these
new
colonies
were
Cossacks brought from the Volga and elsewhere, and,

as usual, with their wives and children, their flocks and
herds, their implements of agriculture
They
sils.
firmed
like
all
Cossacks,
born fighters
and imbued with a sturdy
horsemen,
spirit.
were,
and domestic uten-
They had by
ploughers
agriculture
this
of the
was forbidden,
and
and
independent
time, moreover, become consoil,
though
at least
in
earlier
days
amongst the most im-
portant of the Cossack communities, those of the Don.

While Yakobi was thus employed, Souvoroff busied
i
to the Sea of Azoff there were now ten fortified posts,

Cossack stanitsa, or military colony.
From Mozd6k
each with
its
40
himself, similarly, with the construction of a fortified Line
Laba
stretching from the point where the
Kouban
to
the
mouth of the
falls
on the coast
river
latter
into the
opposite Kertch, and consisting of four fortresses,
linked
together by a score of redouts.
glance at the
map
will
show that while the main
Line ran north-west from Mozddk to Azoff, the Line of the
Kouban ran
nearly due west from the present Kavkazskaya,
though with a southward bend,
in accord with the course of
that river.
To understand the necessity and full significance of

these Lines, we must have some idea of the nature of the
country they traversed, and of the peoples inhabiting it.
Roughly speaking, then, south of the main Line from
Kizliar to Kavkazskaya, and of the eastern half of the
Line of the Kouban, lay the region of

the
densest manner not only the
higher
cretaceous
parallel to
ranges,
them and
by numberless
the
alluvial
clothing in
foothills
and
limestone mountains
to the granitic axis, to the height
of several thousand feet.

sected
but
forests,
This forest region was inter-
torrents and streams, flowing mostly
from the region of perpetual snow, to join sooner or later

either the Te"rek, the Malka, or the
Kouban; and on
the
banks of their many waters, in the glades and clearings

of the forest, dwelt, to the east of Vladikavkaz the various
tribes of the Tchetchens, to the west, the
their kindred the Tcherkess.
Kouban
Kabardans and
North of the Tdrek and
the forests gave place rapidly to fertile plains,
succeeded in turn by desert steppes.
This
flat
country, of
was inhabited by the nomad hordes of the

Kalmuck and Nogai Tartars, the first named occupying
vast
extent,
the
eastern
1
half,
while the Nogais, recent
immigrants
Alexandrovskaya, Mareenskaya, Kopuil, and Novotroitskaya.

from Bessarabia, wandered in large
Kouban and
country between the
whence
their predecessors, likewise
Kasaievtsi
Nogais
and other
taken
tribes,
peninsula opposite the
over
the
the Manitch and Don,
nomad
Tartars of the
had on the coming of the
among
refuge
numbers
41
On
Tcherkess.
the
extremity of the
eastern
the
Crimea
two strongholds, Taman and Anapa, whether in the hands

of the Turks or of the Crim-Tartars, gave
command
of the
of Yenikali, and ensured communications between
straits
and
those peoples
vassals,
the
and encouraged
whom
Nogais,
in
their
they counted as
recurrent hostility to
Russia.
It
does not appear that the Nogais were naturally a
warlike people
only
whence
and the
draw
to
historian,
having Russian sources
his information,
may be
surmise that the raids and forays, of which the

sacks and the
new
settlers
allowed to
Don
Cos-
on the Line complained, were
but the natural result of the Russian advance, which must
have borne heavily on the Nogais as more and more of

the most
portion of the steppes became occupied by
fertile
the ever-widening stream of settlers from the north.

to this
we add
Tartar,
and the exasperating policy of divide
If
the incitements of Tcherkess, Turk, and
avowedly followed
by Russia,
it
is
not
et
impera
surprising
that
the Nogais, goaded to desperation, resorted to measures of

reprisal,
and embarked on a course which
led, as it
could
not but lead, to their final ruin.

their
own
from a chieftain of that name who in the
thir-
All the Nogais are derived, according to

tradition,
teenth century separated from the Golden to found the
Blue Horde.
Powerful for a time, they soon broke up
into several bands, and,
no
less
than by the
weakened by
hostility of
internal dissensions,
neighbouring
tribes,
were
42
by 1552 driven to seek the protection of Ivan the Terrible

against the most powerful of their oppressors, the
of Astrakhan, and thus became subjects of Russia.
are at the present day divided into eight
They
families or
Kara (black) Nogais, the most im-
of which the
clans,
main
Khan
portant, lead a purely
nomad
the north of the Terek.
existence on the steppe to
They
are strict
Muhammadans
of the Sunnite persuasion, hospitable, thievish, dirty, not

over brave, and, with few exceptions, miserably poor.
Their customs are for the most part those of their neighbours, the Koumuiks, Tchetchens, and Kabardans, and have
probably been borrowed from them
but they have songs,
and legends, including something
stories,
their
like
an epos,
of
own, and one or two curious superstitions.
M. Semionoff 1 argues with some
plausibility that the
Nogais are not the descendants of the warlike MongolTartars of Djinghis
and other peoples
whom
as
Khan, but of the Petchenegs,
Polovtsi,
mentioned in early Russian history,
he considers indeed to belong to the same stock
the Mongols,
but to branches that came sooner to
Europe, and were ruder and

ticularly
less warlike.
He
insists par-
on the want of culture and of courage displayed
by the Nogais as distinguishing them radically from the

fierce warriors of
the Golden Horde,
who had
attained by
the time they invaded Russia to a considerable degree of

civilisation.
During seven years from the peace of Kutchuk-Kainardji
to
1782,
when Potiomkin annexed the Crimea
Russia, the Kabardans, the Tcherkess, the Kasaievtsi

their
kindred, as well
unrest,
Nogais, were in perpetual
any two of them uniting against the
kaleidoscopic
1
as the
to
and
third,
changes of combination, such as
with
we need
Touzemtsi Siivero- VostAtchnavo Kavlcdza (St. Petersburg, 1895), p. 395.

not attempt to follow.
forces
latter
for
it
is
true, they all joined
an attack on the Eussians;
on their guard,
and slaughter.
tion
In 1777,
fell
43
but finding the
once more to mutual recrimina-
The Tcherkess raided
the steppe
Nogais made incursions beyond the Kouban.
Nomad
the
en-
campments on the one side, villages on the other, were

destroyed.
Flocks and herds were driven off, fields of
standing corn devastated, and many bloody battles were
fought, victory declaring
now
for the Tcherkess
the Nogais with fairly regular alternation.
with their forests and
than the
latter
hills
now
for
But the former
were better situated
for defence
on the open steppe, and, moreover, had no
Russians behind them, whereas the Nogais were always

liable to
be taken between two
After three years of
fires.
this desolating warfare, plague, famine,
and
civil
war broke
out amongst the unhappy nomads, and Russia's task became
Prince Potiomkin's hands were
easy.
now
free,
the Crimea,
become a Russian province.

He saw that the moment had come to crush once for all
the last remnants of the hordes that had overrun Russia
in the thirteenth century, and force them to abandon their
thanks to him, having at
last
present country for the plains lying
between the Volga
and the Ural, unpeopled since the Pougatcheff
He
rebellion.
entrusted the task to the very competent hand and
brain of Souv6roff.
Summoning
the Nogais in their thousands to meet
him
at Yeisk, on the shore of the Sea of Azoff, the Russian
solemn durbar read to them the manifesto

by which Shaghin-Ghirei, last Khan of the Crimea, abdi-
commander
at a
cated his sovereignty in favour of Catherine
with
all
II.,
together
rights and privileges, including suzerainty over
the Nogais.
The assembled
clans listened in silence,
took without demur the oath of allegiance to their
and
new
44
ruler.
A mighty feast,
at
which 100 beeves and 800 sheep
furnished two items in the
bill
of fare, followed by horse-
and djighitovka, marked the close of the ceremony,
races
and the popular contentment seemed

peace and happiness in their new
to give promise of
relationship for Russians
But when, a little later, Souvdroff,

having won over some of the more influential chieftains,
allowed Potiomkin's plan to become known, the disillusionment was great. The evil news ran like wildfire through
the vast encampment; murmured discontent rapidly grew
to loud-voiced protest, and from word to deed with the
semi-savage Tartars was but a single step.
The call to
arms resounded far and wide; swords were girt on, bows
and quivers seized
and the space between and around
and Nogais
alike.
the kibitkas
was soon
ferating humanity.
The
filled
little
with a mass of raging, vocilater
blood flowed in torrents.
victims were those mourzas and sultans
first
who had
been seduced by Russian promises and probably by Russian

gold
and
so swift
was the deed of vengeance, that before
the Russians could interfere, one and all had paid for their
But Souvoroff, with a sagacity

which wins him the commendation of his countrymen, 3 had
foreseen some such turn of affairs, and had taken his
treachery with their lives.
When
measures accordingly.
the infuriated Nogais pro-
ceeded to attack the nearest of the Russian detachments,

regiment after regiment closed in upon them, and in a
short time all
was
over.
Driven into boggy ground, and
seeing no possibility of escape, the miserable
nomads
in a
mad
access of despair destroyed their valuables, slaughtered
their
women, and threw
their little children into the neigh-
bouring stream.
1
Ante, chap.
Tents made of wooden lattice-work covered with

Potto, Li. 118,
i.
p. 11.
felt,

But these were a portion only
of the whole race.
45
Call-
ing on the Tcherkess for help, readily granted, the remnant
made
of the Nogais
and maintain
desperate efforts to save their country
their independence.
They gathered
numbers, and even laid siege to Yeisk
in great
but, defeated again
and again, they were pursued and finally routed with merciless slaughter by Souvoroff himself and Ilovaisky, Ataman
Don
of the
the
Of
Cossacks, on the far side of the Kouban.
an irreconcilable minority
survivors,
the Tcherkess; the remainder
made
settled
amongst
and
their submission
were transferred to the Crimea, whence the Crim-Tartars,

panic-stricken at Eussian methods of government, fled to
Turkey
in such
never recovered
numbers that
its
to this
day the peninsula has
former population.
Souvoroff for this campaign received the Order of
Vladeemir of the
1st Class,
St.
and his companions in arms,
from Ilovaisky down to the common Cossacks, were lavishly
The fertile steppes of the government of Stavropol were now open to the Eussian settlers,
and colonisation proceeded apace. The Tcherkess, thence-
rewarded by Catherine.
forward, had no possible allies north of the

possible victims
daily in
but the Eussians
numbers and in
The event
on
and the
latter
no
grew
strength.
of the year 1783, the expedition to Georgia,
has already been related.

kin,
Kouban
Its leader,
Count Paul Potiom-
his return found peace established all along the
word never possessed a very positive

relation to the tribes, and there were sharp
Line, and though that

significance in
brushes with the natives from time to time, notably with

the Tchetchens, he was able to devote his very great energy
and
ability for the next
few years mainly
reform and to colonisation.
to administrative
Souvoroff, in February 1784,
returned to Eussia, and Potiomkin united in his person
46
the

command
of both the
was appointed
title
which
first
army
May 1785 he
In
corps.
Viceroy of the Caucasus, a sounding
at this time, however,
was expressly limited
to
the governments of Astrakhan and Stavropol, and certainly
Potiomkin
counted no real authority beyond the Lines.
promoted
Kizliar,
Mozd6k, and some other
stanitsas to the
rank of towns, and chose one of them, Ekatereenograd, as
There he built the
his place of residence.
palace, where, surrounded
by a
first
viceregal
brilliant military court,
he
busied himself with devising and executing those measures
which
entitle
him
to a place of
querors " of the Caucasus.
honour amongst the " con-
To him Russia owes
the founda-
tion of the civilian as distinct from the military occupation
of the Lines and of the Stavropol steppes.

first
He
it
was who
brought German colonists to the Caucasus that they
might improve the existing industries of wine-making and

silk culture,
and by
their
example give an impetus to a
better system of agriculture.
He
invited immigrants from
Crown peasants and others, and with

such success that at first some difficulty was found in satisfying the newcomers' demands for land.
To improve trade
the interior of Russia,
he extended hospitality
Armenians,
to the
who
to this
day
almost monopolise the petty shopkeeping of the Caucasus,

as well as trade
and commerce
in its larger aspects.
war again broke out with Turkey
in
1787',
When
Potiomkin,
whilst retaining his viceroyalty, was appointed to a com-
mand
in the
army of the Danube, and distinguished himself
under Souvoroff at the storming of Ismail.

that
had taken place during the
But an event
last year of his
administra-
becoming known some time later cast

a shade over his renown, and apparently was not uncontion in the Caucasus
nected with his sudden death soon afterwards.

that a brother of the
Shah,
It appeared
Agha Muhammad, seeking
47
refuge from that bloodthirsty tyrant, reached the banks of

the Terek, and appealed to the commandant of Kizliar for
protection.
Boats with a detachment of soldiers were sent
ostensibly to his assistance.
But the
order or acting on sudden impulse
soldiers,
is
whether by
uncertain, fell
upon
the unfortunate prince and his companions, killed them,

and appropriated the rich treasures they had with them.
It is not clear
affair,
what
part Potiomkin took in this shameful
but as he not only failed to punish
kept the whole matter a profound
its
authors, but
secret, it is
only reason-
able to suppose that he profited by
it in one way or other.

Meanwhile, in 1785, an event had occurred the full
significance
of which,
become apparent
undreamed of
later on.
the
at
time,
Shaykh-Mansour, the
will
first
to
preach and lead the Ghazavat, or Holy War, against the

infidel Russians in the Caucasus, was one of those strange
beings,
compounded
of religious fanaticism, military ardour,
and a nature prone
to
adventure,
whom
for
dreaming, fighting, tumultuous, ignorant East, in
only the
its
days
of trouble and unrest, can supply a fitting field of action

for there
rials
and there alone can they
and the
local conditions requisite to
measure of success.
Of obscure
origin,
his birth, upbringing, nay, his very
Mansour dropped,
as
it
failures that far outbalanced

after
him now
one,
now
of the mountain and the forest.
endeavour to
he
it
was who
human mate-
any considerable
of doubtful race,
name unknown, Shaykh-
were, from the clouds full grown,
a warrior, preacher and prophet
drew
find the
and, in spite of the
many
his occasional successes, he
another, of the fierce tribes
He
failed, it is true, in his
unite them against the common enemy, but

first
taught them that in religious reform lay
the one chance of preserving their cherished liberty and
independence, and thereby laid the foundation for future
48
union and for that great movement which under the name
of Muridism was, in the coming century, to set at naught,
year after year, decade after decade, the whole might of
The exact time and
Russia.
in the northern Caucasus
is,
place of his
like all
first
appearance
that appertains to his
Professor Ottino a few years since
earlier years, uncertain.
unearthed in the State archives at Turin a series of letters
home
written
to his father
by Shaykh-Mansour, which,
authentic, puts an end to the mystery in
his life
is
amazing.
if
which so much of
involved, but render his career only the
more
According to those documents, we have to do,
in the person of the
supposed Shaykh, with an Italian
adventurer, one Giovanni Battista Boetti, born
at
Mon-
Destined
ferrat,
where his father practised as a notary.
for the
medical profession, the young Boetti ran away from
home
at the age of fifteen,
wanderings became a
and
monk
after various adventures
found his way to the East as a missionary.
Here
Minor, in Palestine and Turkey, in Cyprus

is said,
and
of the Dominican Order and
and
in Asia
even,
it
he passed many years of wander-
in St. Petersburg
ing, filled with all sorts of
amazing and even scandalous
adventures, culminating in his appearance in Kurdistan as
Mussulman
prophet, in which character he achieved such
popularity as to lead armies of fanatics,

strong, to the storming
many thousands
and sacking of such important towns
as Bitlis, Akhaltsikh, Kars,
and even
Tiflis.
ever the truth as to his origin, there
is
But
as,
certainly
what-
none in
the relation of these his supposed early military successes,
it
pending confirmation from other sources, to treat the

revelations of the Turin archives as altogether the product
is safer,
of fantastic imagination. 1
The
Russians, to
can look for authentic information as to his

1
whom
alone
we
later career, lay
Curiositd ericherche di Storia Subalpina (Torino, 1876),
No. VI.

no claim
to certainty in regard to his early
life.
49
Kazimbek,
a learned Mussulman and a Russian subject, states that
Shaykh-Mansour was an Orenburg Tartar who received

religious education in
his
Boukhara, while the Eussian military
reports indicate Aldee in Tchetchnia as his birthplace and
Daghestan
as
the locality where he studied the Koran.
as Potto points out, 1 this information
But
bility derived
was
in all proba-
from the Tchetchens themselves, and
may
well have no better foundation than the natural desire of

that fanatical race to attribute to themselves the honour
and prophet.
of having produced so renowned a patriot
Certain
it
is,
however, that he
made
his appearance at
Aldee in 1785 preaching the Ghazavat, and soon acquired

so dangerous an influence that Count Potiomkin found it
necessary to send Colonel Pieri with a very considerable force
to take
him
prisoner.
The
history of this expedition
is
that
of others without number, in which the forests of Tchetchnia
proved fatal to well-won military reputations, the grave of

valiant
of an
men who
in the open
enemy twice
Tchetchens.
as
would have made short work
numerous and no
Pieri stormed
less
Aldee and burnt
brave than the

it,
but Shaykh-
Mansour escaped; and on the return march the Russians

were surrounded in the dense forest and all but annihilated,
losing in killed alone their commander, seven other officers,
and more than 600 men.
Amongst the few who escaped
was Prince Bagration, of the royal house of Georgia, then

serving
as
a non-commissioned
officer,
but afterwards a
distinguished general, and famous as one of the heroes of
"patriotic" war of 1812. 2
the
This success, naturally,
brought fame to the prophet in every nook and corner of

1
I. i. 149.
See also General Khanikoff, the chief Eussian authority on
Muridism, in that bibliographical rarity, the Sbornik Gazdi Kavkaz (1847),
vol.
i.
Prince Bagration was mortally wounded at Borodin6.
50
the Caucasus, and fresh adherents flocked to his banner.
Marshalling an undisciplined army he marched on Kizliar,

captured an outlying
itself
but before reaching the town
fort,
was attacked by the Cossacks in boggy ground, and,
losing
many
of his men, retreated in disorder.
shook
for a
time the confidence of his followers
This defeat
;
but, undis-
mayed, the Shaykh set to work to regain his influence, and

calling
on the Kabardans
to join him,
proceeded to lay siege
to Grigoriopolis, one of a chain of small forts in line between
The garrison held out stoutly,

and reinforcements arriving, Shaykh -Mansour was again
defeated, but soon after made a second attempt on Kizliar.
Mozddk and Vladikavkaz.
This time the gardens, vineyards, a ad outlying houses were

devastated, but the attack on the fortifications failed
more the Tchetchens fled

due mainly no doubt to
so
little
yet this continued
their
own
once
want of success,
disregard of all discipline,
ardour and faith in their
cooled their warlike
leader's credentials
from Allah, that soon afterwards he was
able to oppose to the strong
column sent against him by
Potiomkin under Colonel Nagel 1 a motley force of many

thousands of Tchetchens, Koumuiks, Kabardans, and even
mountaineers
from
Daghestan.
The
(2nd November) at Tatartoub, on the

Ossietine aoul, Elkhdtovo, and
on either
side.
But
and the tribesmen
in the
battle
Te"rek,
took
place
near the present
was fought with desperation
end disciplined valour prevailed,
suffered a crushing defeat. 2
As usual with semi-savage
allies,
defeat brought dis-
1
Four battalions of infantry, two squadrons of dragoons, the Mozd6k
Cossack regiment, and one sotnia each of Don, Terek, and Grdben Cos-
sacks.
2
All that remains of Tatartoub, then a large
and nourishing
aoul, is a
from the railway, and doubly worthy of preservation, if,

as supposed, it marks the site not only of Shaykh-Mansour's defeat, but of
Tamerlane's great victory over Toktamuish in 1395. For Shamil's appearance at this spot, see further on under the year 1846.
lofty minaret, visible
51
The Koumuiks retired to their

eastern steppes, the Tchetchens and Daghestanis fell out
and fought; the Kabardans remained, for Tatartoub was
in their own country; but they soon made peace with
the victors, and two years later, on the declaration of
war with Turkey, furnished a contingent to the Kussian
army which crossed the watershed and, defeating a Turkish
integration in
train.
its
detachment at Soudjuk-Kale", 1 brought back in triumph
two captured cannon.
Shaykh-Mansour took refuge with
the Turks on the Black Sea coast, and within a year
had acquired no
less influence
Tcherkess than formerly

other eastern tribes,
origin,
and authority amongst the
amongst the
and
a striking proof that, whatever his
whether Monferrat, Aldee, or Orenburg can rightly
claim the honour of his birthplace,
Moulla
Tchetchens
Muhammad and
this
forerunner of
of Shamil was a born leader of
men, endowed with some high qualities to a very remarkable

degree.
Under
his inspiration
and leadership the Tcher-
kess renewed their raids across the Kouban, burnt villages,

carried off
hundreds of prisoners and thousands of
and sheep, threatened

kask, the
the
to
Rostdff,
and even approached Tcher-
headquarters of the
Don
Cossacks,
while on
anniversary of the battle of T&tartoub they are
have
attacked
cattle
and annihilated
three
said
Don Cossack
regiments at the BolduirefF redout on the river Yei.
The Turkish war now broke out

anxious to crush the Tcherkess
leader before dealing with the
(1787), and Potiomkin,
and
more
three separate columns across the
their
redoubtable
serious enemy,
Kouban.
sent
The Russians
were victorious in more than one desperate engagement,

but Shaykh-Mansour always
made good
his escape.
Again,
the following year, he was defeated by General Tekelli,

1
Near the present Novorosseesk.
52
the
new
and, abandoned
viceroy,
by the
at last
men, he took refuge once more with the Turks
Taman
Situated on the
the
tribes-
Anapa.
at
Peninsula, twenty miles
mouth of the Kouban, Anapa was a maritime
hold of great importance,
and served
the
as
from
strong-
basis
of
Turkish influence and power in the northern Caucasus,

starting-point whence religious and political propaganda made way amongst the Tcherkess and other neighbouring tribes. At first merely a minor fort and a place
the
when
of no strategical value, Anapa,
Crimea cut
off
the conquest of the
communication by land with
the Turkish
the Caucasus, acquired a very different significance, and
with the aid of French engineers was converted into a

first-class
round the possession of which
fortress,
present war between Eussia and Turkey,
so
in
the
far
as
Once ousted
mainly
from Anapa, the Turks could no longer hope to take
any direct part in the struggle, and though the religious
influence of Stamboul would still count as an adverse
concerned the Caucasus,
factor,
Eussia might well expect that,
by armed
force,
no longer backed
would dwindle and eventually die out.
became their main objective, and at the
it
Anapa, therefore,
third attempt,
thanks to the
the
Turk, though
and
still
greater
expedition,
in
the
it
knowing
stances
would
the walls,
General
full
very
at
Tekelli's
of
recognising
that
great
cost
was the
first
but
1788,
of
that
cau-
was
too
Anapa
with the force at his disposal,
well
mean
that
defeat
disaster,
and recrossed
Bibikoff,
only
fell.
autumn
strong a place to take
and
customary carelessness
even then
risk,
commander
tious
turned.
the
renewed
in
retired
Kouban.
the
attempt
year; but starting at the end of January,
the
circum-
reaching
after
His
successor,
the
following
when
the ice
53
on the
river was already unsafe, yet the snow still encumbered the roads, he courted more than the dangers
had alone enabled him
that Tekelli's prudence
The Russian army, 8000

Anapa;
harassed
but,
all
strong,
succeeded in reaching
way by
the
to avoid.
the Tcherkess, and
delayed not only by them but by the state of the roads,

arrived at
destination in no state to deal successfully
its
with a place of such strength.

cessful battle fought
on the one
side
under the walls against the garrison
and the Tcherkess on the
The attempt
gave orders to storm.
retreats
cold
might have
and
most
recorded in Russian military annals.
Provisions gave out, the weather was
quagmires,
other, Bibikoff
failed, as
and was followed by one of the
been foreseen,
disastrous
Nevertheless, after a suc-
unfortunate
the
and hunger, fought
they could, back to the
way
their
Kouban and
the roads mere
vile,
perishing
soldiers,
of
verst by verst, as best
The
to safety.
official
no more than 1100 men, but

other accounts, of the 8000 only 3000 re-
relation puts the losses at
according to
turned whole, and these in a most pitiable
state,
along with them 1000 sick and wounded, of

a small minority recovered.
to
Potiomkin
" I think
men
It's
a wonder that any one
in the water,
few returned with him;

lost,
as to
which
insubordination
it
let
but
mad
to
keep
almost without bread.
survived.
conclude
that
me know how many were
I grieve greatly.
is
whom
Catherine wrote
he must have been
the
forty days
No wonder
bringing
If the troops showed
not to be wondered at
rather
must
one admire their forty days' endurance." Bibikoff was

cashiered the troops rewarded with a silver medal with
;
the inscription,
"For
fidelity."
This miserable failure not only
left
open the entry to
the Caucasus through Anapa, but encouraged the Turks to
54
combine operations against the demoralised Russians in the
Kouban
with those in contemplation for the recovery

The latter half of the project was rendered
district
of the Crimea.
abortive
owing
to the destruction of the
Turkish
flotilla in
the straits of Yenikali by the Russian fleet under Admiral
Oushakdff; but the seraskier, Batal Pasha, in the autumn
army on the Black Sea

confident of victory, and calling
of the same year, landed with his

coast
and marched
inland,
to his standard all the tribesmen of the northern Caucasus.
Count de Balmen, the newly-appointed commander-in-chief

on the Russian
death (at Ghe6rghievsk),
side, lay sick to
and was unable
to direct operations.
even the larger bodies of troops failed

division of the eastern
fifty
of
miles away
the
when
Podpaklea,
Kouban army
army corps lay inactive more than

the hostile forces met on the banks
while
the whole of the
result
attack
fell
Saxon by
western or
corps was concentrated on the Laba,
as afterwards appeared, did not even
The
As a consequence
One
to co-operate.
know
and,
of the invasion.
was that the whole weight of the Turkish

on the single division of General Hermann, a
whose dauntless valour was proverbial

amongst the soldiers, but whose military career ended
birth,
ingloriously at Bergen-op-Zoom, when, acting in concert
with the English under the
Duke
of York, he was defeated
and taken prisoner by the French. In the present instance

he covered himself with glory, for with only 3600 men
all told and six guns he utterly routed Batal Pasha at the
head of an army estimated at from 40,000 to 50,000.
The
seraskier himself
was taken
prisoner.
losses were enormous, for " the Russians,
small numbers, were unable to

victors lost only
150
men
make any
killed
The Turkish
owing to
their
prisoners."
The
and wounded.
The remnant of the beaten army was met by Rosen with the
55
Kouban army corps on its retreat and " demolished."

De
Balmen lived just long enough to receive news of Hermann's
*
success.
The
of the Turkish expedition, prepared
total failure
much
with so
care
and on
so large a scale, obliterated
the impression created by Bibikoff's disaster, and prepared

the
way
for the third attempt
on Anapa.
Count Paul Potiomkin, who had retained

his title of viceroy,
all this
time
though absent from the Caucasus since
1787, was succeeded towards the end of 1790 by Count
Goudovitch,
who
arrived at Ghedrghievsk in the following
January, and at the head of an army counting 15 battalions

of infantry, 3000 sharpshooters, 54 squadrons of cavalry,
and 2 Cossack regiments, with 50 guns, stormed Anapa

on the 22nd of June. The garrison, numbering 15,000
men, was " annihilated,"
for " the victors,
exasperated by
long resistance and the losses they had sustained, thought

only of vengeance," a phrase that recurs again and again
Kussian military history and
in
repeated by Russian
is
most natural thing in the world. The

idea that the more valiant the foe the more respect he
never, it
deserves, the greater mercy he should meet,
historians as the
seems, enters their minds.
The Russian
losses
were indeed
heavy93
officers
and
4000 men killed and wounded, about half the troops

The trophies taken included 83 cannon, 12
engaged.
valuable still,
mortars, and 130 banners; but a prize more
perhaps,
the
was Shaykh-Mansour, who, the
defence,
was sent
first
life
and soul of
was one of the few prisoners taken.

to St. Petersburg and,
it is said,
to
He
Tsarskoe
almost forgotten in the Caucasus, while, strange

stamtsa bearis now occupied by a Cossack
to say, the site of his great victory
(Batalpashinsk).
Pasha
ing the name of Batal
i
The name
of
Hermann
is
56
Sield for the Empress's inspection,
in the Solovie'tsk monastery
Sea,
and was then immured
on an island in the White
where he died a few years
later.
Goudovitch, having finished with the Turks, turned his

attention to the further strengthening of the Lines,
and
obtained permission to settle large numbers of the Don

Cossacks in new stanitsas, from the upper waters of the
Kouma and
the
Kouban
the confluence of the latter
to
But the Don Cossacks, ready as they

ever were to fight, had no mind permanently to leave the
districts occupied for generations by their forefathers.
They broke out into open insubordination, and a thousand
river with the Laba.
or two
made
way home in defiance of their comEven when shown the Empress's

orders.
their
mander-in-chief's
oukase they refused obedience

sent to restore order;
later (1795) that a
planted to six
new
and
it
regular troops had to be
was not
until three years
thousand families were at
last trans-
stanitsas.
Meantime took place Agha Muhammad's incursion into

Georgia and monstrous sack of Tiflis. War with Persia
became inevitable, and Goud6vitch was ordered to commence operations at once with the means at his disposal.
Before,
however,
he
could
complete
his
preparations
Catherine appointed Count Valerian Zduboff to the com-
mand
of the army in the
mortified,
feigned
sickness
field,
and Goudovitch, deeply
and begged
to
be recalled.
The Empress consented, and solaced him with the
title
of general -in-chief and a present of 1800 " souls."

1
The last of the letters published by Professor Ottino bears date " SoloSeptember 15, 1798," and is signed " Giovanni Baptista Boetti, Preacher."
vietsk,
In
it
he begs forgiveness
of his venerable father.
CHAPTEK
IV
1796-1806
Persian campaign of 1796 Derbend taken again Russian successes Death

of Catherine
Paul orders retreat to the Line of the Terek, but is compelled to interfere again
Incorporation of Georgia Alexander I.
The Tsaritsa Marie Death of Lazareff Tsitsianoff's policy

and successes The whole of Georgia reunited after four hundred years
Death of Gouliakoff-War with Persia Heroic conduct of Russians
BakuDeath of Tsitsianoff
Tsitsianoff
The campaign
against Persia in 1796 need not detain us
though equally
long, for,
successful,
had no more
it
in-
fluence on the future of the Caucasus than that of Peter
the Great and his lieutenants three-quarters of a century

earlier,
and for the same reason.
Now,
and the caprice of another
of one ruler
donment of whole provinces
won with
and Paul, who bore no goodwill
died,
her policy,
made
led to the aban-
astonishing ease by
The
comparatively small bodies of men.
to his
Anne had
Empress
mother or
Persian
relinquished those
But, to preserve the sequence of events,
of Peter.
briefly indicate the course of the war,
nothing
great
haste to relinquish Catherine's
conquests as completely as
may
as then, the death
else,
if it
did
confirmed the Russians in their utter con-
tempt for the Persians in the
wholesome
which,
we
fear of Moscovite
field,
and the
latter in their
power and prowess.
Count Valerian Zouboff, the new viceroy and commander-in-chief, was the younger brother of Catherine's
favourite, Count Platon Zouboff, but while owing his
selection
cessful
mainly to
this fact,
he
justified
it
by his suc-
conduct of extensive and hazardous operations,

67
58
though the amount of serious fighting was not very
Count Z6uboff was
great.
at this time only twenty-four years of
but he had already served with distinction under
age,
Souvoroff in Turkey and in Poland.
He
was adored by
the soldiery for his youthful dash and brilliant courage,
and
officers of
rank and name were willing enough to serve
under him, and put, freely at his disposal their greater
knowledge and experience.

Derbend, ever the
first
objective,
offered,
some
resistance, but surrendered at discretion
May
after the storming of
this
time,
on the 10th
an outlying tower and several
bombardment of the town and fortress. The khan,

Shaykh Ali, a youth of eighteen, was made prisoner, but
days'
soon afterwards effected a most daring escape in view of the
whole Russian army, an event that was to cost
what
it
some-
Advanced corps under Rakhmanoff and BoulBaku and Koub respectively, and
dear.
gakoff next occupied
main army, subdued in succession the khanates of Shirvan, with its capital Shemakha,
of Shekeen, and of Karabagh. All this took time, and an
Zduboff, following with the
unfortunate affair in the mountains, near Alpani, where
Shaykh Ali, who had found an ally in the Khan of KaziKoumoukh, waylaid and cut to pieces a strong Russian
detachment under Colonel Bakounin, caused more delay. 1
But before the end of the year Gandja, with the capital of
the same name, afterwards Elizavetpol, the Mougan steppe,
and
all
the territory along the Caspian to the
Koura, was
in the occupation of the
the Persian province of Azerbijan
The Shah
himself, meantime,
mouth
of the
Russian troops, and
lay open before them.
was busy elsewhere,
or the
1
Yerm61off, afterwards so famous, begged to be allowed to accompany
Bakounin, but in vain.
2
Also spelt Aderbijan, and in various other ways.

invaders
would,
59
have met with more serious
doubtless,
opposition.
Then came the news
of Catherine's death, and with it

Paul to put an end to the campaign and
to the Line of the Terek.
Zduboff, in no favour with
orders from
retire
the
new
whom
many
Tsar,
was superseded by Count Goud6vitch, from
he had so recently taken over the command, and

of his subordinates, including Yermoloff, rather than
meet that capricious and unpopular veteran, made their way

overland to Astrakhan, and so home.
The conquered
khanates recovered
semi-independence,
their
Persia her
suzerainty.
It
may be noted
in passing that
devastation of Georgia by
ostensible
and very
hastily ended,
it
is
though the invasion and
Agha Muhammad Shah 1 was
sufficient justification for the
the
war thus
said also to have been undertaken in
connection with Count Platon ZoubofFs great plan, approved
by the Empress,
revival of the
and the
for the seizure of Constantinople
and the
Greek Empire under the protection of Kussia,
selection of the
younger Zduboff as commander-in-
chief lends colour to the statement.
Had
Catherine lived
longer the history of Europe might have run a different

course.
The Emperor Paul not only
reversed his mother's policy,
but put aside the galaxy of warriors and statesmen distinguished by her favours
own
and
for
the
most
part,
be
it
who
had contributed to
the success of that policy by their qualities and their
admitted, by their
actions,
to be
for
it
is
merits
pre-eminently the mark of great rulers
served by great men.
princely rank,
whose family
for
Tsitsianoff,
a Georgian of
two generations had been
1
Assassinated by two of his servants at Shousha in 1797.
ending with the establishment on the throne of Feth Ali.
Civil
war ensued,
60
and who had already distinguished him-
settled in Russia,
Caucasus and elsewhere, shared the fate of his
self in the
commander-in-chief, Count Zduboff, and so
While Paul
many
others.
lived he remained without employment, if not
But with the accession of Alexander

I. all was once more changed.
The men of Catherine's
day, or many of them, were restored to favour, and Tsitsianoff was appointed inspector-general of the Line and
actually in disgrace.
commander-in-chief in Georgia.
This was in September
1802, and in the short time that elapsed before his pre-
mature death he did more than

together, for the establishment
all
his predecessors, taken
on a permanent basis of
Russian domination in Transcaucasia.
Meantime the
force of circumstances soon compelled
Paul to turn his most serious attention to the
affairs of
In the summer of 1800 King George XII.,
that province.
who had succeeded
to the throne
in 1798, received letters
on the death of Irakli
from the Shah, Feth
Ali,
II.
couched
demanding that his eldest son be sent

to Teheran as a hostage, and threatening invasion in the
1
At the same time a Persian army
event of refusal.
began to assemble on the frontier. The king, encouraged
in violent terms,
by the Russian envoy, Kovalensky, firmly refused compliance,
and Paul
I.,
on learning what was taking
place,
ordered General Knorring, commanding the troops in the

northern Caucasus, to prepare
force of 15 squadrons
with
artillery,
and
and
at once
9 infantry battalions together
cross the
moment he became convinced
mountains into Georgia the

that the threatened invasion
of that country was really imminent.

to inform
King George
protect him.
1
an expeditionary
Meantime he was
of the Emperor's determination to
Akti,
i.
p. 105.
Idem, p. 106.
61
In July the king's brother, known as the Tsarievitch

Alexander, turned traitor and
importance, for during
adventurous
tically
enemy
fled,
an event of no
many subsequent
life
little
years of a roman-
the fugitive prince was the arch-
of Russia, 1 continually stirring up Persia and the
smaller native States to attack Georgia, or the latter to
new masters. It was at his instigation

that Feth Ali now crossed the Aras, while Omar, the Avar
khan, came down from his mountain home to invade
Georgia from the north.
The Persians thought better
revolt against its
of
and retired without venturing
it,
with Russia
Omar,
less
to
provoke a war
prudent or more generous, reached
the junction of the Yora and Alazan Rivers, only to suffer

total defeat at the
1800).
For the moment
George XII., who
hope
hands of General Lazareff (7th October

danger was averted; but
all
lay dying of dropsy in Tiflis, seeing
no
country save in the strong protecting hand
for his
of Russia, sent an embassy to St. Petersburg begging Paul

to accept once for all the Georgian crown.
festo in
Paul's mani-
compliance was published on the 18th of December,
and ten days
later
Tsitsianoff
George
died.
was a man of indomitable courage and ex-
treme energy, but these were qualifications too common

in those strenuous days to suffice in themselves for any
great distinction.
tive ability of
overbearing
He was
also
endowed with administra-
a high order, coupled with an aggressive,
spirit,
that served
him admirably
ings with the native rulers, Christian as

1
Akti,
Idem, p. 168.
i.
in his deal-
well as Mussulman,
p. 107.
The Lesghians (Avars and other Daghestanis), who num1500 dead on the field. The Russian loss, out of a total of
arms, was quite insignificant. The Georgian cavalry distin-
bered
1224 men of all
their
guished itself by its valour and ferocity. Very few of the wounded made
escape, but amongst them was the Tsarievitch.
15,000, left
Akti,
i.
p. 188.
62
though probably enough

tragic fate
and
to that of
He was
dinates.
all
who
moreover, of a biting wit,
roused his animosity or con-
tempt, without distinction of persons

sayings and writings,
if
served
him
and
his
satirical
they made him powerful enemies,
and care
yet taken with his soldierly qualities
who
own
one of his most valued subor-
possessed,
on
freely exercised
contributed both to his
it
well, secured
him the
for those
love, the adoration
almost, of the army.
In the Polish war he dispersed the partisan bands of

Prince Sapieha, stormed Vilna, and totally defeated Gra-
by these
winning
bovsky,
achievements
the
flattering
notice of Souvdroff, who, in an order of the day,
on
troops
his
Tsitsianoff."
" fight
to
But
all
his
energetically
qualities
and
called
the
brave
abilities
would
like
hardly have availed for the attainment of his actual successes

in Transcaucasia
had
it
not been for that birthright which
gave him at once the power of understanding, as no Russian

could, his
ence over
race,
own fellow-countrymen, and an inherited influthem. As a Georgian, and the scion of a princely
he had that country's best interests at heart
but,
born and bred in Eussia and serving the Tsar, he was

in
honour bound
to
devote his energies and abilities to
the furtherance of Russia's aspirations, the attainment of
To many Georgians it must have

we know it did to members of their royal
Russia's political aims.
seemed, as
house, that patriotism in this case
with duty.
partial
But
historian
impeach
sension,
recent
still,
horrors
war
can neither question
motives
He
his
nor
found his unhappy country,
bitter past, still a prey to internal dis-
after
of
necessarily
and the im-
his judgment.
untaught by the
must
Tsitsianoff held otherwise,
the
oppression of centuries and the
Agha Muhammad's
incursion,
at
the
63
mercy of Tartar, Turk, and Persian the moment the greycoated Moscovite soldiers should turn their backs at the
caprice of an autocratic master.
Convinced, therefore, that
the safety and future well-being of the Kartvel race depended
on the reunion of
its
component parts under Russian
he exerted himself whole-heartedly
rule,
and
for the extension
consolidation of that rule; and in the brief time allowed
him, by a series of able and energetic administrative and

military measures evolved order out of chaos within; reunited, after a separation of four
hundred
years, Mingrelia
and Imeritia to Georgia proper; and extended Russia's
sway from the Caspian

Tsitsianoff's
to the
care
first
was
to put
into execution
members of the
projected expulsion of the

for
Black Sea.
his
royal family,
which he had obtained the imperial sanction before
leaving St. Petersburg, and amongst
own
Marie, a near relation of his
Tsitsianoff
them of the Tsaritsa
born, indeed, Princess
harsh measure, but a necessary one
an
if
end were to be put to the intrigues of which the palace

Marie was the widow of
Tiflis was then a hotbed.
George XII., and neither she nor her children could recon-
at
cile
Russians, as
we have
their forces after
pation.
and
Tsaritsa should
of
seen,
more or
had once and again withdrawn

less
Their power even
established,
that
The
themselves to the altered state of their fortunes.
it
now was by no means
dream of seeing
one of her
The
firmly
was not unnatural that the widowed

sons,
the
Georgia for centuries once

throne.
prolonged periods of occu-
resulting
seemed intolerable to
state
in her
own
person, or in
dynasty that had ruled
more
of
Tsitsianoff,
in
possession
things
for
may
of
the
well have
not only was the
whole country kept in perpetual unrest, but intrigues with

the Court of Persia, whither some of the princes had
fled,
64
threatened danger from without in addition to the discord

obtaining within.
The Russian commander-in-chief, whose preconceived

opinion was but confirmed by
that he learnt on arrival,
all
The most
acted with his usual promptitude and firmness.
move him from
piteous entreaties failed to
and when the Tsaritsa feigned

Lazareff to
her
effect
illness,
arrest,
while General Toutchkoff

It
and
palace
The
Tsaritsa
was
what outraged
was her inten-
and seek refuge elsewhere; but early
on the morning of her projected

the
purpose,
he ordered General
secured the persons of her elder sons.

tion to leave Tiflis
his
her
informed
and
in bed,
feelings this
veins ran the passionate
flight,
Lazareff entered
Tsitsianoffs
of
decision.
may be imagined with
it
woman and
sovereign, in
whose
southern blood, met the intru-
She
sion of such a visitor charged with such a mission.
refused to budge, and Lazareff, finding argument
of
no
room with the intention of arranging for

her removal by force. Hardly, however, was he outside
the door when the noise of desperate struggling induced
his return.
It then appeared that a son and a daughter
of the ex- queen, drawing their kindjals, had made a
violent onslaught on a subordinate officer left by Lazareff
avail,
left
the
on guard.
bidding
Lazareff himself rushed
Queen Marie
call
off
up
to
the
her children,
bedside,
instead
of
which she dealt him, with a dagger hitherto concealed

under the bedclothes,
immediately
fatal.
a blow in the side which proved
This
tragic
affair
naturally
created
throughout Georgia.
an immense
But Tsitsianoffs end was gained. The Tsaritsa, with
most of her family, was secured and deported as a common criminal to Russia, where she spent the rest of a
sensation in Tiflis and
long
life; at first,
for seven years,
immured
in a
nunnery

at
65
Voronezh, afterwards as an exile but in comparative
freedom at Moscow.
and was
eighty,
She died in 1850
buried
with
royal
forty-seven years after the crime
may be pardoned
at
the age
honours
at
of
Tiflis,
which her countrymen
for regarding as, at worst, excusable.
The viceroy was now free to pursue his plans and

carry out the new system of government already matured
in his
own mind,
a system radically opposed to that of
his predecessors.
His own people, no longer disturbed
by the
of the
intrigues
ex-reigning family,
might be
thankful to obtain comparative safety and rest under the

aegis
of Russia and the wise and vigorous administration
of their
own most
distinguished countryman.
The Tartar
and Persian khans were treated in a way infinitely better

suited to their semi-barbarous comprehension than the
alternate bullying
and cajolery
to
which they had grown
accustomed, without thereby acquiring either respect or

affection for their Moscovite masters.
"Fear and greed
two mainsprings of everything that takes place

here," wrote Tsitsianoff to the Emperor Alexander I.
"These people's only policy is force, and their rulers'
are the
mainstay valour, together with the money requisite to

For this reason I adopt a system of
hire Daghestanis.
and instead of
the shape of subsidies and
rule contrary to that hitherto prevailing,
paying, as
it
were, tribute in
intended to mitigate mountain manners, I myself

demand tribute of them." His proclamations and letters
gifts
addressed to the native khans were drawn up in language

" Is it reasonable," he
far more forcible than polite.
writes,
"for the
eagle?
Your
fly
bullet
to enter into negotiations with the
won't
kill
five
men: my cannon,
with ball or shrapnel, will cut down thirty at a time."

The refusal of the free Djdro-Bielokani tribesmen to
66
up those of the Georgian princes who had taken

refuge amongst them was made the excuse for an expedeliver
dition
resulting
in
annexation
the
their
of
territory,
thereby to some extent guaranteeing Georgia against the
of
raids
Daghestan
the
ment meted out
to
those of the latter
punish-
Severe
mountaineers.
who had
settled
them in check
number of 600,
in the neighbourhood of Akhaltsikh kept

until the following year, when, to the
they were disarmed and sent back to their native
nesses
loss
not,
however, before
they
had
inflicted
fast-
severe
on the Eussians, one whole detachment being
liter-
Western Georgia now breathed more

freely, and TsitsianofFs next step was to annex Mingrelia,
which, as already stated, had been declared independent
ally annihilated.
of Turkey by the
treaty
of
Kutchuk-Kainardji.
Poti,
however, the key to the whole principality, had remained

in
the hands of the Turks, and served as the principal
num-
centre for the collection and deportation of slaves,

bers of
whom
were Mingrelians.
On
the
other
hand,
the rulers of Imeritia carried on perpetual warfare with

their western brothers,
and
at last, instigated,
no doubt,
by Tsitsianoff himself, the dadian, following the example

1
of Georgia, sought Eussian protection, and Mingrelia was
formally proclaimed a Eussian province.

isolated,
with the Eussians on either
longer hope to maintain
its
Imeritia
side,
independence.
was now
and could no
With a
very
bad grace the Tsar Solomon submitted to the inevitable,

and his kingdom likewise was annexed by Eussia on the
Thus the ancient Iberian monarchy,
25th April 1804.
broken up by the testamentary dispositions of the Tsar
Alexander I. of Georgia four hundred years previously,
was
at
last
reunited under the sceptre of Alexander

1
The
title of
the rulers of Mingrelia.
I.
67
whose sway in Transcaucasia now extended

from sea to sea, though Baku for the present retained
of Russia,
its
These successes, diplomatic rather than
independence.
military, brought, however, serious trouble in their train.
The Ottoman Porte viewed the absorption

States by her old enemy with growing
of the Christian
concern,
and a
Russian expedition to Abkhasia, in the course of which
was taken of the Turkish fort of Anaklia,

situated on the Black Sea coast, though Tsitsianoff
hastened to disavow his subordinate and even apologise
possession
for his utterly indefensible action,
filled
the measure of
Turkish exasperation, and led ultimately in 1807
more
to
one
in the long series of Russo-Turkish wars.
Meantime, in other
directions, the
Russian commander-
in-chief continued his aggressive policy at the expense of
Thus Gandja, on the

pretence that from the time of Tamara it had really belonged to Georgia, though long lost to that country
owing to the weakness of her rulers, was invaded, the
capital city of the same name stormed after a month's
Persian and Tartar khans.
the
siege (2nd
annexed.
khanate
selves
January 1804), Djavat
up
in
Khan
killed,
"Five hundred Tartars
and the
shut
them-
mosque, meaning, perhaps, to surrender,
but an Armenian told the soldiers that there were some
Daghestanis amongst them, and the name was a deathsignal
for
all,
so
great
is
the
exasperation
of your
Majesty's troops against those people for their raids into
Georgia and the robber war they carry on,"
women
but
all
the
town were spared a rare occurrence in

Caucasian warfare, and due to TsitsianofFs strict injunctions.
As evidence of his determination that Gandja
should henceforth and for ever belong to Russia, he re1
in the
Tsitsidnoffs report to the
Emperor Akti,
:
ix.
(supplement), p. 920.
68
named the city Elizav&pol,

the name it now bears.
honour of the Empress,
in
But while success crowned the expeditions led by

sianoff in person, one of his bravest lieutenants,
Gouliakoff,
was
killed
and
"
The blood
my
my
Then the commanderTo the rebels he wrote
veins boils like water in a kettle and
limbs tremble with rage
ally:
you
knew no bounds.
in
General
his forces compelled to retreat
by the turbulent Djaro-Bielokanis.

in-chief's rage
Tsit-
" to
the Sultan of Elisou, their
"Shameless sultan with the soul of a Persian
me
dare to write to
still
and the understanding of an
me with
strain,
ass, yet
vassal of
in your blood
threatening
how
my Emperor
well
all
with
is
you think
fire
I shall only long to

in a similar
and sword.
he understood
to deceive
that until you
and to others
"
so
the soul of a dog
Know
your specious phrases.
become a loyal
wash my boots
proved
Yours
the
native
The
result
character.
Samoukh, and the Djaro-Bielokanis submitted, took

the oath of allegiance to Russia, and were forced to pay
Elisou,
"
tribute.
Our
prince," said Kariaghin,
"
making music
with bombshells and bullets, constrains every khan to dance

to his piping."
TsitsianofFs policy, however,

objection.
Had
was open
to one very grave
the native princelings stood
alone his
methods, leaving the moral question aside, would have been
beyond
cavil, his success unqualified.
Muhammadan Powers
could not
rapid progress of Russia
the khanates were
still
fail to
But the two great

take alarm at the
moreover, Gandja and others of
counted as vassal States by the Shah,
however shadowy his suzerainty may have become; and

as Turkey in the west, so Persia in the east soon saw that
war with Russia was inevitable. In 1804 Tsitsianoff, with
about 10,000 men and 20 guns, marched on Erivan, another
69
nominally independent khanate at that time actually threatened by a Persian army, 1 but, for once, failed. The Persian
Abbas Mirza, heir to the throne, numbering

30,000 men and 6 guns, was beaten in the field (7th June
force under
1804)
a series of most brilliant feats of arms covered with
names of Portniaghin, Montresor, and others

but Erivan held out, and a wet autumn, making transport
glory the
coupled
difficult,
with other
unfortunate
circumstances,
compelled the Russians to raise the siege and

perilous retreat to Georgia.
Erivan then opened
effect
its
gates
to the Persians.
Tsitsianoff
now resumed
his diplomatic campaign,
and
succeeded in securing the submission and allegiance of the
Khans
of Karabagh (capital city Shousha) and Shekeen
(capital city
Noukha).
A Persian
army of 20,000 men
led
by Abbas Mirza entered the first-named khanate, but wasted

strength in the vain effort to overcome the resistance of
its
a mere handful of Russians under the leadership of the

heroic Kariaghin, with Kotliarevsky to help him, whose
feats of
arms sound truly legendary.
For three weeks,
though frequently surrounded, he defied the whole Persian

army, defeating it in pitched battles on three separate occastormed and captured various
fortified places, and finally, with a force reduced to 100
men, cut his way through to the commander-in-chief, on
sions;
not only that, he
The
whose approach the Persians beat a hasty retreat.
Shah himself, Feth Ali, who with 40,000 men had crossed
the Aras, likewise thought better of his proposed meeting
2
with Tsitsianoff, and retired without fighting.

So ended the campaign of 1805, noted in Russian miliMonteith, " Kara and Erzeroum," p. 37.
summary, and
Monteith, pp. 41-45. His account of this campaign is
is no variance as to the
there
but
Russians
the
of
;
that
differs in details from
1
main
facts.
70
and almost incredible deeds

performed by handfuls of men opposed to whole armies.
Tsitsianoff's career, however, was destined to be no less
tary history for the valiant
He had
short than brilliant.
set
himself the task of estab-
lishing Russian sovereignty firmly
and
on both the
finally
Caspian and Black Seas, realising that on no other condition could her position in Transcaucasia be safeguarded
on the one hand, Turkey on the other.

Failing in an attempt to negotiate the cession of Poti, he
against Persia
built
the fort of Redout Kale on the Mingrelian coast,
and then determined

Caspian
flotilla,
The
Baku.
to obtain possession of
carrying an expeditionary corps, the whole
under the command of General Zavaleeshin, laid siege to

the city by sea and land, but being threatened by the horde
Khan
commander beat an
with an army of
1600 men and 10 guns, took the matter in hand himself,
though so worn out with fever and the fatigues of his previous campaigns that frequently he had to be lifted from
of the
of Kouba, the Russian
inglorious retreat.
and
his horse
Thereupon
laid to rest
Tsitsianoff,
on the bare ground.
domitable courage, however, never flagged.
in-
charac-
energy of speech he informed Husayn-Kouli-Khan
teristic
that he
town
With
His
came with the
firm determination of capturing the
or dying under its walls.
through
the
mountain
khanate
After a
of
march
which he
difficult
Shirvan,
annexed on the way, Tsitsianoff crossed the
frontier
of
Husayn's dominions on the 30th January 1806, and de-
manded the
surrender of his capital.
submission
the
The khan feigned
8th February was fixed as the day on
which the Russians were
to take possession of
Baku
the
Russian commander-in-chief, accompanied only by a small

escort,
approached to within half a mile of the walls, where
the elders of the town met
him and
delivered
up the
keys,

begging
for
some assurance
TsitsianofF replied that he
re-deliver
with a mounted
as to the khan's personal safety.
would be glad
them
escort,
in person.
The
latter
The
little
now
and TsitsianofF advanced
accompanied only by his adjutant, Prince

Cossack.
meet once more
to
and returned the keys so that Husayn
his old acquaintance,
might
71
party had no
to
rode out
meet him,
Eristoff,
and one
sooner come within
reach than the treacherous natives rushed at them, firing

their pistols.
dead
In a moment
all
was over
TsitsianofF fell
Prince EristofF met the same fate immediately
The guns mounted on the
after.
town opened fire on the

Russian army, and Zavaleeshin, upon whom the command
devolved, for a second time showed his pusillanimity. Careless of
walls of the
Russian honour, he thought only of securing his own
and that of his men and instead of avenging the infamous murder of his chief, retreated by way of the Caspian,
first to the Shamkhal's dominions, and finally to the northern
safety
Line.
Tsitsianoff's
head and hands were cut
of Baku, to
off
and sent
in
body was buried under the walls

be disinterred later on when that city was
triumph to Teheran
his
captured by the Russians under Boulgakoff, and,

eventually, in 1811 committed to its last resting-place with
finally
every circumstance of funeral
pomp and
solemnity in the
venerable church of the Sion monastery in
Tiflis.
Potto sums up Tsitsianoff's achievements and character

as follows: "In the short time he passed there (in Transcaucasia) he
country.
pendent
managed
to completely alter the
map
of the
He found it composed of minutely divided, indeMuhammadan States leaning upon Persia, namely,
the khanates of Baku, Shirvan, Shekeen, Karabagh, Gandja,

and Erivan, to which must be added the territory of the
Djaro-Bielokani Lesghians, the pashalik
of Akhaltsikh,
72
and the Turkish
fortresses situated
on the shores of the
All these khanates, territories, and fortified
Black Sea.
places constituted a hostile ring, encircling on three sides
the Georgian countries, of which Mingrelia and Imeritia
warred not only with each other, but with Georgia proper,
while the latter was further torn by the dissensions of her
own
Three years passed, and
princes.
Transcaucasia in extent almost as
now
it
is,
the preparation
all this
with
Russia, occupied
of great wars, could
when a
Caucasus,
when
at a time
peaceful,
And
moreover, and submissive from sea to sea.
he accomplished
single fresh regiment
left
Tsitsianoff
do
little
the
for
was considered a
vast reinforcement.
" Tsitsianoff
tary leader, to
soldiery,
was not merely a most distinguished
whom
is
due the
spirit
mili-
of our Caucasian
but an administrator of exceptional rank.
Under
him the road from the Line to Georgia was commenced, 2

Vladikavkaz
rebuilt,
and a regular postal
Nor amidst
lished over the mountains.

series of
to
service
estab-
his uninterrupted
campaigns and battles did he cease to contrive how
overcome the ignorance in which the whole population
of Georgia was then sunk.
He
establishment of schools in
Tiflis,
took steps towards the
urged the sending for
teachers of the Russian language, the supply of books, &c.
"At
'
He was
the same time,

a
man
it
indeed.'
might be said with truth that
His humane care
for his military
comrades presents an example both rare and touching.
Endowed with uncommon

and strength of
will,
abilities,
Tsitsianoff held
the banner of Russia, and
left
valour,
penetration,
high and proudly
behind him in the annals
of Caucasian warfare a glorious and immortal memory."

1
And conduct for
Austerlitz was fought
As a matter of fact, a
made by Potiomkin in 1783.
"
road,
if
2nd December
1805.
a rough one, had, as already stated, been
CHAPTEK V
1806-1816
Derbend captured for the fourth and last time Goudovitch again Troubles
on all sides Niebolseen's victory War with Turkey Anapa retaken
Goud6vitch repulsed at Akhalkalaki and Erivan Capture of Poti
Imeritia annexed Unification of Christians Paulucci's victory under the
walls of Akhalkalaki Dangerous position of the Russians Combined
action of Persia and Turkey It comes to nothing KotliareVsky takes
Akhalkalaki Russian disasters Rebellion in Georgia Its suppression

Paulucci recalled General Rteeshtcheff Peace with Turkey Russia's
conquests abandoned Kotliarevsky's victory at Aslandouz Lenkoran
Peace with Persia Russian conquests
Had
Tsitsidnoff lived,
it
possible that he
is
would have
maintained internal order in Transcaucasia, notwithstanding
His death, coupled with
the Persian and Turkish wars.

the
retreat
of Zavaleeshin, gave the signal for a recru-
descence of trouble both in the reunited provinces of the

ancient Iberian
khanates.
kingdom and
The Georgian
in the newly acquired native
princes found in
it
tunity to pursue their personal ambitions
madan khans renewed hope
of independence
and Persia were only too ready
a fresh oppor-
Muham-
the
while Turkey
to encourage all
who on
any pretext, or for any reason, were hostile to Kussia.

General Glazenap, however,
who commanded on
the Line,
did all that lay in his power to counteract the disastrous
commander-in-chief's death
impressions produced by the
and
Zavaleeshin's
unfortunate
withdrawal
from
Baku.
Having reported these untoward events to St. Petersburg

and received instructions to take command of all the forces,
he proceeded to organise an expedition against Derbend
care to keep his objective a
and Baku, taking such good

73
74
none of the native rulers suspected it until too

late to bar his progress.
Passing unmolested through the
country of the Aksais, the Eussians, a mere handful,
secret, that
crossed the Soulak and
came
to a halt
under the walls of
The Shamkhal of that day held the nominal rank
Tarkou.
of general-adjutant in the service of the Tsar, and Glazenap,
knowing
his
own weakness and
the vainglorious nature of
the native princes, profited by this circumstance to

flattery the
support of one who,
if
unpropitiated,
win by
might
easily render the expedition abortive.
Professing to regard
the Shamkhal as his superior
the Kussian general
made him
his report,
and by
his feelings, that after feasting
officer,
this treatment so
Glazenap and
won upon
all his officers,
and offering the former the choice of his harem, he agreed

to take part in the campaign, and, as a matter of fact, rein-
forced the Eussians with a contingent of cavalry.

ing, moreover, that the ruler of
extremely unpopular with his
Derbend, Shaykh Ali, was
own
subjects, the
sent emissaries to foment their discontent,

success, that
Know-
no sooner had the Eussians
Shamkhal
and with such
set foot
on the
borders of the khanate than a rebellion broke out, resulting
khan and the surrender of his capital

without a shot being fired. It was thus that Derbend, on
the 22nd June 1806, for the fourth and last time fell into
in the flight of the
the hands of Eussia, who, having always the

the sea, ought, from the day
when
Peter the Great, never to have
abandoned
The way was now

Baku, which khanate,
clear
for
it
first
it.
the further advance
But Glazenap,
of
surrendered to
as well as intervening
tened to offer submission.
command
to
Kouba\ has-
like Peter before
him, had to wait the arrival of the Caspian
flotilla, and
meantime an event occurred disastrous to his fortunes.
The veteran Count Gouddvitch was once more appointed
75
commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, and immediately on

his arrival at Georghievsk sent peremptory orders to Glazenap
to await in
Derbend the
whom he entrusted
arrival of
General Boulgakoff, to
the carrying out of
all
further operations.
Goudovitch, with old age, had become capricious, tyrannical,
and vain
to a degree, while losing to a great extent those
military qualities
and
to have nourished
The
which had formerly won him renown
his treatment of Glazenap, against
latter,
some
spite,
whom
he appears
was both harsh and unjust.
however, in the most chivalrous way voluntarily
placed himself under Boulgakoff' s orders, and thenceforth

in a subordinate position took part in the campaign he
had himself planned and so successfully
was no
fighting, however, as both
rendered at discretion
There
initiated.
Baku and Kouba
sur-
and having in vain advised a further
advance on Erivan, this gallant
officer retired in
dudgeon,
and though afterwards for some time stationed at Ghe6rghievsk as chief of the celebrated Neezhni-N6vgorod Dragoons,
his fighting career
was
at
an end.
The new commander-in-chief's failings soon made themselves felt.

The state of affairs was such as to demand that
whoever held the reins of government should, above all
things, be prompt to decide, energetic in action yet promp;
titude
A very
and energy Goud6vitch no longer possessed.
On
sea of troubles beset him.
the northern Line and in
Ossetia the plague was raging, and there were not enough
troops
to
stamp
it
Kabardans and the
out.
The
tribes
beyond the
opportunity to raid the
Ossietines rebelled.
KouMn
took the
Eussian settlements, the
penetrating even as far north as Stavropol.
The
latter
In Transcaucasia
Tsar Solomon of Imeritia openly defied his new masters.

Husayn-Kouli-Khan of Baku, who had taken refuge amongst
the Persians, together with the Georgian Tsarievitch Alex-
76
ander, invaded
20,000 strong, marched on
Khan
ShousM
Persian army,
at the call of the
Ibrahim, and on the death of the latter at the
hands of the Eussians

the
Georgia from Erivan.
Khan
accidentally, as they professed
of Shekeen threw off his allegiance
ever-turbulent Djaro-Bielokanis,
while the
who had made a desperate
but abortive attack on the Eussian fort Alexandrovsky,
on the Alazan, the previous
When
came
it
to fighting,
year,
revolted
once more.
the Eussians as usual were
General Niebolseen, with only his own regiment
victorious.
and the battalions of Kariaghin and Lissanievitch, 1600
Khana-
bayonets in
all,
shin defile
then marched on Noukha, the capital of Shekeen,
and took
it
totally defeated the Persians in the
by storm
gain any real
The
rebellious
while in no direction did the enemy
success.
Comparative order was restored.
khans were deposed and other native
rulers
appointed in their stead, a measure severely condemned
by Eussian military writers, who would have had Goud6vitch

take this opportunity of reducing the khanates to Eussian
But war with Turkey was now inevitable, and

Gouddvitch, knowing that with Napoleon threatening the
Vistula he could expect no reinforcements from European
provinces.
Eussia,
may
well have been impelled to this policy by the
paramount importance of conciliating the Persians, with

whom he now concluded an armistice.
War was
fruits to
declared with Turkey in 1807, and the
first-
Eussia was the recapture of Anapa, which sur-
rendered this time with scarce an attempt at defence to

a squadron
next
commanded by Admiral Poustoshkin.
five years,
Eussia held her own, though with

borders
one
For the
while Gouddvitch remained in command,
failure
i
But
difficulty.
followed another,
see Monteith, op.
tit., p.
and
48.
Beyond her
fell
short
of
77
disaster thanks only to the heroism of subordinate officers
and the men they inspired and

fatally
incompetent conduct of the
coupled with
led,
the
foe.
Leaving Niebolseen with a small force to watch the

Persian frontier,
the commander-in-chief
forces against Akhaltsikh, while subsidiary
on Kars and
led
main
his
columns marched
But Goudovitch himself was defeated
Poti.
men and
with a loss of 900
three
guns in an attempt
to storm the minor, yet important, fortress of Akhalkalaki,
and retreated into Georgia. The other two attempts

wise failed, and the Turks took the offensive; but
likeafter
three abortive attacks on the small force under General

Niesvietaeff
at
Goumri (Alexandropol), were completely
who had hastened
defeated by Goud6vitch,
thanks mainly, be
said, to
it
to his rescue,
the heroic conduct of the
Goudovitch was rewarded with the
first-named general.
rank of field-marshal, and such was the effect of the

victory that the Shah, though nominally still at wax with
Russia,
made
haste
congratulate
to
negotiations for peace,
him.
The ensuing
however, took so unsatisfactory a
course, in spite of the friendly efforts of Napoleon's envoy

1
at the Persian Court, General Gardanne, that Goudovitch
in September 1808
made an attempt on
To what
Erivan.
extremes of folly and injustice the vanity of old age had

brought him is shown by his proclamation on this occasion
to the inhabitants.
"
Do
not rely," he writes, " on the
former unsuccessful blockade of your
cumstances then and now
differ
in
fortress.
toto.
At
The
cir-
that time
the leader was Prince Tsitsianoff, a young general, not
whereas now
very experienced in martial
affairs,
who command I, who
more than
>
Akti,
France and
pp. 471 et seq.

Russia at Tilsit.
iii.
for
thirty
it
years
is
am
Peace had meantime been concluded between
78
accustomed to lead powerful Russian armies."

at
Akhalkalaki an attempt at storming
failed,
Just as
heavy losses
and retreat became imperative. The conditions, owing mainly to frost, snow, and impassable roads,
were onerous in the extreme a thousand men, mostly
were
suffered,
wounded, were frozen to death the whole army

seemed doomed to destruction, and owed its escape solely
sick or
to the brilliant victory gained
by Niebolseen and Lissanid-
vitch over a vast horde of Persians
Gouddvitch reached
line of retreat.
utterly dispirited
his
two
years'
who
barred the one
Tiflis
worn out and
heralded by the
rule,
high-handed supersession of Glazenap, and inspired by that

vainglorious spirit not unfrequently noticeable in Russian
military leaders,
had proved a miserable
Emperor had no
hesitation
in
failure,
accepting
his
and the
proffered
resignation.
With
the
advent of Count Tormazoff,
successor, in April
Gouddvitch's
1809, the Russian position improved.
Poti, for the first time,
was captured by a
brilliant feat
of arms, the hero of which, Prince Orbeliani, was one of
the
many Georgians
of illustrious family
who
devoted their
valour and talents whole-heartedly to the service of Russia.
Moreover, Tsar Solomon was deposed and Imeritia finally

annexed; while Gouria and Abkhasia, with Soukhoum
Kale, voluntarily joined their fate to that of Russia, thus
completing the unification of the Christian races (1810).
In the main theatre of the war the threatened invasion

of Georgia by the Turks was averted by the brilliant victory
gained under the walls of Akhalkalaki by the Marquis
Paulucci, an Italian in the Russian service.
The Persians
invaded and devastated Talish, but were eventually beaten
back ingloriously by Tartar

Niebolseen.
militia supported
Paulucci's great victory
is
by General
thus described by

the Emperor Alexander
I.
in
79
an order of the day: "The
on the borders of Kartalinia on the 5th

of September over 10,000 Turks and Persians is one hardly
possible to any but Russian troops.
Two battalions of the
victory gained
9th and 15th Sharpshooters, with two light guns and a
Cossack contingent, march for three days in cold and wet

weather over mountains covered with snow, and such that
deemed them impassable. At midso quietly and in such

good order that the enemy's sentinels discover them only
the natives themselves
make
night they
when within
their approach
a hundred yards of their camp.
Their un-
sudden volley from musketry

and cannon, followed by a headlong attack with the bayonet,
looked-for appearance, the
spread hopeless panic amongst the enemy.
The
valiant
Russian soldiers rush through the camp from one end to

the other, and the terrified Turks and Persians seek safety
in flight."
This defeat, which had the happy

allies
by the
ears,
after
was followed by an attempt on the
stronghold Akhaltsikh (November 1810),
great Turkish
but,
effect of setting the
one
brilliant victory
gained under the walls,
Tormasoff retired, owing to an outbreak of plague amongst

the
troops.
own
The following year he was
request,
recalled at his
and in September the command
in Trans-
caucasia devolved on Paulucci, General Rteeshtcheff being
appointed to the northern Line. 1
The above
successes notwithstanding, the
year
1811
saw the Russians once more reduced to a position of

danger, which was to reach
its
culminating point in 1812.
The war with Napoleon was already
foreseen,
and,
1
In 1812 Tormasoff covered himself with glory at Kobrin, where he gained
a brilliant victory, involving the destruction of the Saxon contingent, the first
success of the Russian army in the " Patriotic War."
80
secretly, three
regiments were withdrawn from the already
The Mussulman hos-
army of the Caucasus.
insufficient
both north and south of the mountains grew more
tility
Turkish and Persian wars
the
intense,
and
continued,
there were ominous signs of discontent in Georgia
Face to face with, numerically, such vastly superior

the
Russians,
who
constantly had
and even half-companies
forces,
oppose companies
to
to battalions,
itself.
squadrons to whole
hordes of native cavalry, could find safety only in superior

discipline
no
dable,
fastness
and a valour that counted no odds too formifortified place too
inaccessible,
strong to assault, no mountain
that held defeat preferable to
honour, and death to retreat.
dis-
Paulucci, energetic, brave,
and a stern disciplinarian, embodied these ideas in his

" Soldiers
of the day, one of which runs
orders
must know that

dishonoured,
so
it
is
that,
one should yield
better to die with glory than
even at the cost of
a foot's
his numerical superiority.

officer
who
way
gives
court-martial and
life
space to the enemy,
...
enemy
dismissed the
whosoever bears in mind that he
will
service in
is
no
itself,
whatever
I hereby declare that
before the
live
any
be tried by
disgrace,
for
a Russian and uncon-
Such was the school

in which the army of the Caucasus was trained, and such
the spirit animating, with few exceptions, both officers
and men. Nothing less would meet the exigencies of the
querable will always beat the foe."
case
nothing
less
would have preserved Transcaucasia
to
Russia, which country in the Caucasus, as England more
than once in India, fighting with her back to the wall,

was abundantly justified in her sons. Later on, as we
shall
see,
when
the pressure had relaxed,
when
not defence was the order of the day, there were

instances
in
which the Russians,
like
others
attack
many
similarly

placed,
showed no such heroism
one
more
81
proof, if such
be needed, that in corporate bodies valour, like cowardice,

is
Even
to a great extent the product of circumstance.
now
there were occasional reverses, a case here and there
of misconduct, but on the whole Russia has good reason

to
be proud of those who, in days of trouble and disaster
at
home, maintained her position and prestige
terrible
And
odds in the
of all the
mortal,
hardly
far-off lands
many
Kotliarevsky,
compare,
with
beyond the mountains.
who
there
whom
even
heroes
pre-eminent
stands
against
won fame im-
for
Scdbeleff
can
conduct
and
dauntless valour.
In the summer of 1811 the danger seemed greater
The Persian and Turkish commanders, putting aside their jealousies and suspicions, agreed upon
concerted action, and made ready for a combined attack,
in overwhelming force, on the Russian positions, Goumri
than ever.
being the
first
They met
objective.
at
Magasberd 1 on
the 30th August, but Fate was this time on the side of
Russia, a tragic incident characteristically putting an end
to
the
usual
enemy's
plans
djighitovka,
to
and
combinations.
the
celebrate
pistol point-blank at the
ing a mortal wound.
in
Kurd,
who
in
secret
career,
discharged
Seraskier of Erzeroum,
The dying man was
Kars; his troops followed and
The
full
finding
himself
carried off to
homes.
dispersed to their
alone,
retreated
inflict-
Sirdar of Erivan retired in turn, and the Pasha
Trebizond,
the
meeting,
bought by the chieftain of Magasberd,

hated the Turks, passing
During
to
of
Batoum.
All this took time, but Paulucci, the pressure removed,

determined to take the offensive, and Kotliarevsky was
chosen to make an attempt on Akhalkalaki, a fortress
1
Kussians
call it
Mazagbert.
Possibly Melasgird
82
which had successfully
resisted Goudovitch's
him but two
Kotliarevsky, taking with
whole army.
battalions of the
Georgian Grenadiers, made a forced march over the snowcovered mountains, avoiding altogether the main roads,
reached
and, surmounting very great natural difficulties,
Akhalkalaki unobserved on the night of the 9th Decem-
So complete was the surprise that the
ber.
stormers,
by Captain
led
before
the
Turks
resisted
light
garrison
but
desperately,
saw the
in
fortress
of
their
was
it
walls
The
approach.
too
Day-
late.
hands of the victorious
the
men
Russians,
who
The hero
of this gallant feat of arms
lost only thirty
Russian
were on the
Schulten,
dreamed
first
and wounded.
was promoted to the
killed
rank of major-general, being then only twenty-nine years

of age.
Meantime on the southern and eastern borders of

Daghestan there had been a good deal of trouble and
some fighting. General Gourieff having under his com-
mand
the Sevastopol
then the
regiment,
Caucasus, suffered a reverse in Kouba.
seded by General Khatountseff,

officer,
who, with
won a complete
reinforcements,
brave
soon
worst
in
He was
the
super-
and energetic
restored
order,
victory over the mountaineers, and, later,
stormed the chief stronghold of the Kioureen khanate

near the borders of Kazi-Koumoukh, part of which was
also devastated.
So ended 1811, on the whole successfully

sians.
But the ensuing
year,
that
of
the
for the
Rus-
Napoleonic
invasion, opened with disasters that were but the prelude

to
a period
of
such
trouble
and danger as
seriously
threatened Russia's domination in the Caucasus from sea

to
sea
and on either side of the mountain chain.

1
Akti,
v. 184.
And,

of a truth,
in
contemplating the history of 1812, one
knows which
hardly
83
to
wonder
most
at
the
heroic
tenacity of the Moscovite troops, under such leaders
Kotliarevsky,
as
and others, or the hopeless

incompetency of the various Mussulman Powers, great
and small, who, with everything in their favour, not
only failed to throw back the northern invaders to
the
Portniaghin,
the Terek and Kouban, but, beaten time
of
line
after time
by vastly
ground in every
inferior forces, lost
direction.
The year had hardly opened when

thousands in number,
ing a battalion of the Troitsky regiment,

Djini, in Sultan-bouda (Kerza-Kertchee,
Shousha),
many
the Persians,
invaded Karabagh, and, blockad-
under Major
fifty
miles from
occupied Shakhboulakh, twenty miles farther
north, in order to cut communication with Shousha.
way took Shakhboulakh

but could go no farther. The Persians, 18,000
small reinforcement then on
by storm,
then
attacked
and the
officer
strong,
Djini
Russians
the
Sultan-bouda.
at
next in rank were killed,
wounded, and the command

nikoff,
its
he surrendered
at
others
falling to Captain Oloviash-
discretion,
the colours
regiment falling into the hands of the
victors,
of the
fact
1
almost unparalleled in the annals of Caucasian warfare.
The
rejoicings at
the
Persian Court
the Russians were no longer
may be imagined
invincible,
and the Shah
had visions of further successes that would

lost
suzerainty
Georgia.
the
over
In these
khanates
and,
possibly,
circumstances Paulucci,
Derbend occupied with the
affairs
his
restore
over
who was
in
of Daghestan, recalled
1 According to Monteith, the Persians owed their success on this occasion

to the advice of D'Arcy (afterwards DArcy Todd), a British officer, who in
the fight commanded the Persian regular forces, consisting of six hattalions,
86 guns
op.
eit.,
p. 83.
The
locality is difficult to identify.
84
Kotliarevsky from
command
the
Turkish
frontier,
gave him the
and himself hastened thither.

Meantime, however, yet more serious events were
in Karabagh,
at
Popular discontent, due to the high-handed exac-
hand.
tions of the Russians,
grew to a head in Georgia
itself,
and
open rebellion broke out on the 31st of January at the

village of Akhmet, and on the following day at Tion^ti,
where a Russian
officer,
accused of outraging a Georgian
men.
Soon
woman, was cut to pieces with all

Kakh^tia was in a blaze. The towns
of Telaf and Signakh
were besieged by the insurgents.
The
fortified,
his
all
former, strongly
held out, but Signakh was taken and the garri-
son exterminated with horrible cruelty.
At the
village of
Kaghob^ti a squadron of the Narva Dragoons was destroyed, after Marteenoff, colonel of the regiment, had
been mortally wounded.
Telaf from
all sides,
Reinforcements were hurried to
but not a tithe of them succeeded in
One detachment,
reaching their destination.
consisting of
280 dismounted Narva Dragoons, was surrounded under the

Yesseepoff, in
very walls of the town.

killed,
and of the whole
without a single
officer
to a desperate sally
Signakh
force
command, was
no more than 120 men
entered Telaf, and that thanks only
on the part of the garrison.
district the rebels
In the
attacked Bodbiskhevi, though
occupied by a whole battalion of the famous Kabarda regi-
ment, which, after losing two
officers
and 212 men, finding
the position untenable, retreated to Kara-agatch, where,
though strengthened by two more companies of the same

regiment
and two squadrons of the equally celebrated
Neezhni - Novgorod Dragoons, the Russians were closely

besieged during twelve days, with no other food than the
barley intended for the cavalry horses.
outbreak, so rapid
its
So sudden was the
spread, that the chief of the district,

the valiant Portniaghin, was caught with only
Dragoons
fifty
Narva
men had been
Already half his
at Sagaredjio.
85
wounded when two companies of Kherson Grenadiers came up, and Portniaghin, thus reinforced, with
difficulty made his way to Tiflis.
Here, in the capital,
trouble was brewing, and Prince Orbeliani warned the
killed or
commander-in-chief that he could no longer answer for the

safety of the city, as the Lesghians
ance in the very suburbs.
had made
Northward the
their appear-
rebellion spread
over the whole district of Ananour, and extended even into
Thus a detachment of three companies with one

gun, hastening to Doush^t, was forced to retreat after
losing its commanding officer; but in this direction the
success of the rebels was short-lived.
Lieutenant-Colonel
Ossetia.
Oushakdff with a battalion
of
the
Georgian
regiment
marched rapidly on Doushdt, took that important centre by

storm on the 12th February and captured Ananour, where-
upon in
down.
this part of the country things quieted
Paulucci soon afterwards arrived in

reinforcements
being
sent
to
Telaf,
and strong
Tiflis,
the
enemy were
beaten in a pitched battle, the outlying detachments
At the same time

February) the Turks, 5000 strong, made a desperate
lieved,
(21st
attack
loss.
and communications
restored.
on Akhalkalaki, but were beaten

Three days
Russians
in
later,
off
with heavy
Lissanievitch with a small force of
conjunction with Kara-bek,
of
gained a victory over Turkish troops at Parghita.

relieved of anxiety in this quarter
recaptured Akhalkalaki the gravity
have been extreme

Telaf district.
1
re-
Paulucci,
and
had the Turks

of the situation would
hastened to crush the
The insurgents were
Magasberd,
rebellion in the
beaten, their principal
See Paulucci's full account of the Georgian rebellion in his report to the
Akti, v. 67-81.
of 26th March 1812
Emperor
86
immediate danger was
The
taken and sent to Russia.
leader, Prince Kabouloff,
over,
and
at this
moment
very
Paulucci received letters of recall, the Emperor appointing
him
chief of the staff to the
1st
He was
against the French.
soon, however, transferred
the Governor-Generalship of Finland and the Baltic
to
provinces, owing,
He
Tolly.
for
it
said, to dissensions
is
with Barclay de
afterwards left the Russian service, and was
some time Governor- General of Genoa.

In 1811 the command in the Caucasus had been divided,
Transcaucasia being
to Paulucci, the northern Line,
left
government
together with the
of Astrakhan,
call,
again united in his person
full
to
re-
authority over both
The new commander-in-chief,
divisions of the country.
man
given
who, on Paulucci's
Lieutenant- General Rteeshtcheff,
Western Army, acting
was lacking apparently in
of exceptional probity,
other qualities even more desirable at headquarters at such
He had
a time as the present.
and his attempt
win the turbulent northern tribesmen
to
by conciliatory methods
writers affirm,
owing
but because, after
neither energy nor firmness,
failed,
not,
perhaps, as Russian
to the inherent impossibility of success,
all
that had gone before, conciliation un-
accompanied by severity could, in the eyes of the natives,

only
mean weakness
peoples, above
all
and with savage and semi-savage
others,
weakness breeds contempt
in
proof of which his celebrated successor, Yermdloff, adduces

the fact that the Ingoush elders,
summoned
to
Mozddk and dismissed
with presents, that very night
and pillaged
To the
whom
it
fell
Rteeshtcheff had
to their
homes laden
upon his baggage-train
almost under their benefactor's
policy followed by
him during
of office his successors attributed

befell in their time,
own
eyes.
his four years' tenure
much
though with what
of the trouble that

justice
it
is
diffi-

But
cult to say.
87
this is a point that will be referred to
later on.
Certain
lucci
it is
was the
that Eteeshtcheff's inheritance from Pau-
reverse of enviable.
existence at home, was
Turkey.
still
at
Russia, fighting for her
war with both Persia and
The army in the Caucasus, never really adequate

had suffered heavy losses, and the weakening
was still going on, while reinforcements were quite
in numbers,
process
out of the question.

tian
Discontent prevailed amongst Chris-
and Mussulman
alike, resulting in secret conspiracies
and overt acts of violence and rebellion from the Aras to

the Terek and Kouban, from the Caspian to the Black Sea.
Between Vladikavkaz and
Tiflis all
Ossietines, Khevsours, Pshavs,
and
for a
the mountain tribes
and Tousheens
had
risen,
time communications were broken.
In these circumstances
pressure were relieved no
it
is
evident that unless the
amount of heroism on the
of the Russian forces in the Caucasus,
part
a mere handful
comparatively, could avert something worse than the loss

of a battle here
and
there, the destruction of
detachment in this or that corner of the vast

defended.
And
driven
extremities,
to
Rteeshtcheff,
an outlying
territory to
be
moment relief came. Russia,

and
made peace with Turkey
at the right
no longer threatened
in that direction, gladly
withdrew such of his forces as were
stationed
on the
Turkish frontiers and in the territories taken by conquest
from that Power.
May
For by the treaty of Bucharest (16th
1812) Turkey recovered nearly
all
she had lost in
recent years in the Caucasus, and her beaten troops
entered
peaceably into
Akhalkalaki.
Soukhoum
possession
of Anapa, Poti,
and
Kale\ however, was retained by
Russia, in despite of the treaty, on the

sible pretext that it
re-
more
or less plau-
had never in reality been a Turkish
88
Locally the chagrin of the Russians was great
possession.
it
was
many
indeed to find that in the ultimate result so
bitter
and
successful efforts, such lavish sacrifices of blood
had been made in
treasure,
vain, so
much heroism
wasted.
But prolongation of the war with Turkey might very well

have led to losses more disastrous still
and if the conquered territory and fortresses were to be given up, it was
better that their abandonment should be effected in this
way with no further loss of life, nor, so far as the army
;
of the
Caucasus was concerned,
That army was now able

remaining
ened
foes.
Tiflis
The
itself,
Petchersky,
who
to
of honour or prestige.
cope, though
Ossietines who,
barely,
its
coming south, threat-
were beaten and dispersed by Colonel
succeeded in clearing the road
to Vladikavkaz.
with
all
the
In Kakh^tia, at Signakh, Orbeliani
way
finally
defeated the Georgian TsarieVitch Alexander and his horde

of Daghestanis (14th October 1812), and
KotliareVsky,
who had been kept
in
five
days later
check by the cautious
Rteeshtcheff, taking advantage of the commander-in-chief's
absence in
Tiflis,
crossed the Aras unperceived, defeated the
main Persian army on the banks of that

routed
it
at
Aslandouz
river,
in a night attack,
and
totally
when 10,000
of
the enemy were slain, the Russian loss being only three
officers
1
and 124 men
killed
and wounded. 2
from a mound erected by Timour on the spot

Monteith, op. cit, p. 93, notej and see generally
the battle, pp. 88-95.
Also tor the Bussian account, Akti,
" Lion's plain,'' so called
where a
lion
had been
his account of
slain
v. 690.
2
This was Kotliarevsky's second victory at this spot, and in each case his
general orders were that no quarter was to be given, though on this occasion
he spared the lives of 537 prisoners.
Two of the British officers in the Persian service, Major Christie and
Captain Lindsay, took part in the battle. " Christie was shot in the neck,
and more than half the battalion he had raised and disciplined himself fell in
The attempt was unsuccessful, but it afforded
this attempt to bring him off.
a. noble proof of their attachment and devotion.
Christie was discovered in
the morning by a Russian party, who offered assistance but he had deter;

"
89
God, hurrah, and the bayonet," wrote Kotliarevsky,
"have given the

Rteeshtcheff,
victory to
who
His Most Gracious Majesty."
was nothing
if
not chivalrous, condoned
his valiant subordinate's disobedience of orders,
mended him warmly
and recom-
In December the young
to the Tsar.
hero crowned his career of victory by a yet more desperate

Crossing the snow-covered
deed.
Mougan steppe, he appeared
the walls of Lenkoran, a fortress recently rebuilt
before
after the plans of
mander refusing
stronghold,
English engineers, and the Persian com-
his
after
summons
days'
five
surrender, stormed that
to
siege,
with a loss of 1000
men, more than two-thirds of his total force. The general

order issued to the troops on this occasion was couched
in heroic
"There
was
and contained the famous phrase,

1
It maybe added that there
be no retreat."
language,
will
no quarter.
also
the Emperor:
General Rteeshtcheff reported to
"The extreme
exasperation of the soldiers
obstinacy of the defence caused
at the
them
to bayonet
every one of the 4000 Persians composing the garrison.

2
Kotliarevsky
Not a single officer or man escaped death."
himself was wounded in three places, in the head severely,
and
this,
rendered
added to
further
his
service
wounds and sufferings,

Found under the
impossible.
previous
mined never to be taken alive, and cut down the officer who attempted to
raise him.
A report was sent to General Kutlerousky {sic) that there was a
wounded English officer who refused to surrender orders were sent to disarm
Christie, however, made a most desperate
and secure him at all hazards.
despatched, being
resistance, and is said to have killed six men before he was
a man as ever
amiable
and
officer
an
brave
fell
as
Thus
shot by a Cossack.
;
Monteith, op. cit, p. 93.

inscription,
Eleven cannon of English make were captured, bearing the
Shah of Shahs."
according to the Russians, " from the King of Kings to the
Lord Curzon's account of Christie's death, that he was "killed by a Russian
even if literally true, gives an imofficer while lying wounded on the ground,"
"Persia,"
narrative
pression very different from that conveyed by Monteith's
existed."
i.
p. 578.
1
The
Akti,
full
text
v. 703.
is
given by Romanovsky,
p. 110, note.
90
walls amidst a heap of dead, he was carried half-dying to

Tiflis,
but survived thirty-nine years, during
all
which time
The Emperor rewarded him

George of the 2nd Class the 3rd
his sufferings never ceased.
with the Order of
St.
he had already received

for
an
almost unparalleled honour
one so young, he being even
A victory gained by the
now
1
only thirty-one.
Russians under Colonel Pestel
over the brother of the Sirdar of Erivan,
and incompetent
chief,"
completed the discomfiture of the Persians.

for peace
"a most
timid
at Kara-bezouk (3rd April 1813),
Negotiations
were already being carried on through the inter-
mediary of the British ambassador, and an armistice was

followed in October by the preliminary treaty of Gulistan.
Eussia by this instrument was confirmed in possession of

the khanates
Karabagh,
all
Gandja, Shekeen, Shirvan, Der-
bend, Kouba, and Baku, together with part of Talish and
the fortress of Lenkoran.

pretensions to
and Abkhasia.
Persia further abandoned
all
Daghestan, Georgia, Mingrelia, Imeritia,
campaign against the Khevsours in the

spring of 1813, during which the Russians under Simondvitch
notable
penetrated
the
uttermost fastnesses
of
the
east-
central mountain chain and took Shatil, the chief strong-
hold of that strange race, on the upper waters of the
few days before his death in 1851, Kotliarevsky, in the presence of

opened a small case, of which he had always kept the key himself.
In it were forty splinters of bone taken from his skull after Lenkoran. Pointing to them he exclaimed, " There that is why I was unable to accept the
Emperor's appointment [in 1826] and serve my sovereign and my country to
the grave.
Monteith, op. cit., p. 98.
3
A treaty was drawn up by the British ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley, at
this time, stipulating amongst other things that the Indian Government
should continue the subsidy of 120,000 a year until Russia should have
Monteith, op. cit., p. 100.
restored some portion of the Persian provinces
But this article was omitted in the text of the treaty (of Teheran) as finally
1
'
his relatives,
'
ratified.
91
Argoun other successes over the refractory Kioureens,

and the fact that neither help nor encouragement could
be hoped for longer from either Persia or Turkey, damped
;
the courage both of the smaller native potentates and of
the Georgian rebels.
when,
in
Things gradually quieted down, and
1816, Rteeshtcheff
made way
for
YermolofF,
though passions only slumbered, and nearly half a century
was
to elapse ere the conquest of the
called complete,
it
may be
Caucasus could be
said that peace prevailed.
CHAPTER
VI
1816-1817
His early career Character PolicyHis mission
Yerm61off
to Persia
"
The Line
Bow down
Submit
thy snowy head, oh, Caucasus

Yerm61off comes
!
So wrote Poushkin, and the verdict implied has become
with
an
article of faith
to
make
to
Rightly or wrongly, of
who
all
we
shall
endeavour
generations of
Russians.
justice
succeeding
clear
statesmen
what
the long line of warriors and
in the course of a century or
more brought
the Caucasus under the domination of Russia, Yerm<51off,

in the hearts
the
first
puts
and minds of his countrymen, has long held

Destined, as another poet, Domontovitch,
place.
" carve his
to
it,
mountains," he
is
name with
the bayonet on the
credited not only with having accom-
plished that feat, but with having inaugurated
and, so
long as he retained the command, carried out the only

policy
To
to
which success in the long run could
attach.
his inspiration is attributed that heroic spirit which,
with pardonable exaggeration,
is
to have
said
the soldiery of the Caucasus invincible,

that goes to
services
known
fill
and of
as
rendered
and much
else
up in Russian eyes the measure of his

his
The
glory.
years
"the Yermdldff period";
of his rule
the
first
are
organised
plan of action as "the Yermoloff system"; his advent
is
held to mark the dividing line between the old ideas
and the new

1
ideas inherently fallacious, and ideas which,
Quite unwarrantably, for
it
existed before ever he set foot in the Caucasus.

92

if
followed out
consistently
must inevitably triumph over
and with adequate means,

and eventuate
and irrevocable,
all difficulties
in a conquest of the Caucasus complete,
from sea to
93
and from the northern steppes to the

confines of Persia and Turkey.
Let us now see what
manner of man this was, and what, as a matter of fact,
sea,
he accomplished.
Borndn 1777,
it is
significant that
he began his career
under Souvoroff, who bestowed on him the Cross of
George for his heroism at the storming of Praga
St.
at the
After the Polish campaign Yermoloff,
early age of sixteen.
who was
in the artillery, went to Italy and served with
the Austrian army against the French, and in 1796 took

part in
the Persian war under Count Valerian Zouboff,
including the capture of Derbend and the defeat of
Muhammad
at Gandja,
when
Agha
the Persians brought eighty
elephants into their battle line.
For his
services
on
this
occasion he received the Cross of St. Vladeemir and, though

still
in his teens, the
rank of lieutenant-colonel
but with
the accession of the Emperor Paul, Fortune played

false.
him
Returning to Eussia, he was soon arrested on sus-
picion of being concerned in a military conspiracy, and

after a
term of imprisonment in the
burg was exiled to Kostroma.

Souvoroff's
Italian
fortress of St. Peters-
In this way he missed
campaign, but
in
1805
gained
his
promotion to the rank of colonel at Austerlitz, and the
campaign of 1807 established him in the eyes of the

Russian army, and especially of its rank and file, as one
of the most heroic and gifted
of
their leaders.
This
reputation was fully borne out by his conduct during the
Napoleonic invasion as chief of the

Tolly;
and subsequently, when the

1
suburb of Warsaw.
staff to
tide
Barclay de
of war rolled
94
where in command of a
across the frontier, at Bautzen,
and above all at

Kulm, where, Count Osterman being dangerously wounded,
small rearguard he saved
fifty
Yermoloff took the supreme
Paris,
command
almost from the
In 1814 he commanded both
beginning of the action.

the Russian and the
guns
Prussian Guard at the taking of
and in 1816 was appointed commander-in-chief in
Georgia (with jurisdiction over the whole of the Caucasus)
and also ambassador-extraordinary to the Court of Persia.

In the latter capacity, as will be seen, he proved himself
well worthy of his master's confidence in quite other than
military fields.
In 1820 Alexander
army
an
was on the point of sending
I.
Naples under his command;
to
but Austria,
always uneasy at Russia's interference in Southern Italy,
who put an end to the

Neapolitan and Piedmontese constitutions. The Russian
hastily despatched
flag thus
Finmont
thither,
escaped the doubtful honour of protecting, as
in 1799, the bloody Neapolitan reaction
and of sanction-
ing the vengeance of Austria against Pellico and his fellowsufferers in the cause of freedom.
reasons,
when
at
rejoiced
I told
him
"
it.
that I
Yermoloff, for his
The Emperor was astonished
had
learnt without regret of the
expedition being countermanded.
commanded
I should
like
would make
able
to
little
earlier,
In person no
man who,
his appearance
without shrinking,
on the scene made memor-
by the mighty deeds of war of that remarkable man,
and, a
all
Souvoroff, I remarked,
the Austrians and aroused their jealousy.

see the
own
who came
less
of Napoleon."
than in character Yermoloff impressed
near him as one born to command.
Of
Pog6din, MateriaM, &c. (materials for a biography of Yerm61off, containing
his scanty journals
and memoirs and various
letters).
Moscow, 1863.

gigantic
stature
95
and uncommon physical strength, with

on mighty shoulders and framed in shaggy
round head
set
locks, there
was something leonine
in his whole appearance, which, coupled with unsurpassed courage, was well
calculated to excite the admiration of his
own men and
strike terror into his semi-barbarous foes.
Incorruptibly
honest,
simple, even rude in his habits,
hardihood, his sword was ever at his
camp he slept wrapped only in

and rose with the sun.
as in
Careless of his
own
life,
and of Spartan
and in city
side,
his
military cloak,
a willing sharer in
all priva-
exacting to the uttermost at the call of duty, no
tions,
commander was more sparing of his men when to spare

them was consistent with success, none so thoughtful of
their well-being, 1
none so regardless of formality, none ever
unfeignedly friendly.
so
Jealous
of the honour of his
Caucasian regiments, he appealed successfully to Alexander I. to put an end to the prevailing custom of filling
ranks with military offenders and criminals from
their
European Russia.
of the
" officers will
day,
comrades for
men
" Henceforward," he wrote in an order
whom
no longer see amongst them
they need blush, nor will unworthy
share the service and the glory of the brave soldiers
Georgian
of the
raggedest soldier
Army Corps." To him the humblest,

who did his duty cheerfully and Yer-
mdloffs army was the raggedest and cheerfullest ever seen
was a friend and

as comrades
pathised with
1
On one
brother.
Habitually he addressed them
habitually he entered into their feelings, sym-
them
in their troubles
and hardships,
visited
occasion he administered a severe reprimand to a commanding

who, in the absence of express orders, had kept his men on the plains
in summer instead of withdrawing them to the hills, " as if to take measures
for preserving the health of the troops were not one of the duties of a commander, and as if it were necessary to await special orders to that effect."
officer
Akti,
vi.
i.
p. 511.
96
them by day and by night as they huddled round campfire and kettle, joked, laughed, and chaffed with them.
With
all
this,
upon whom, we
idol of the soldiery,
name
no wonder that he became the
is
it
acted like magic
mere
are told, his
while the fact that his biting
much
tongue and caustic wit were freely exercised, very
own
to his
at Court,
hurt,
on the German party then predominant
not the least of his claims to the gratitude
is
and admiration of the Russian chauvinist of later
days.
Asked one day to say what favour he desired, he

replied, "To be made a German, for then I shall be able
to get
all
I want."
crowd
of
generals
asked,
"
May
On
When we
whenever
possible,
cult to imagine
ruling
merits
treated
what
of
clique
the most
them
as such,
in their despite.
Barclays,
still
If,
it
and
not
diffi-
roused amongst
his
way
to
and
superlative
the front
on the other hand, his name and
linger in the
contemporaries
gotten,
to
all,
inferiors, and,
it is
Wittgensteins, &c,
tribute
memory
Daghestan and Tchetchnia when
fame
man
feelings such a
eloquent
he
add that his arrogance
the fact that he forced his
is
antechamber,
any one amongst
however highly placed, as his
all,
perhaps
if
were such that he looked upon*
self-sufficiency
or nearly
the
Emperor's
the
in
I inquire, gentlemen,
you speaks Russian?".

and
another occasion, addressing a
of the mountaineers of
those
have
successors
must be admitted that
of most
already
of his
been
this survival is
for-
due not
merely to his commanding personality or actual accomplishment, but in part, at least, to the calculated cruelty
of
his
methods
characteristic
of
methods,
Russian
unhappily,
warfare,
too
generally
morally indefensible,
but possessed of undoubted advantages in dealing with

Oriental peoples.
It will always
be argued, more or less
Yermoloff
97
Caucasus would have mis-
plausibly, that the tribes of the
taken clemency for weakness, whereas campaigns conducted
on the good old plan with
fire
and sword
the devastation
of crops, the sacking of villages, the massacre of
women
the ravaging of
gave
a lesson they thoroughly
The Russian General
understood and fully appreciated.

Erckert says of Yermoloff, " he
He
the natives themselves."
my name
the terror of
potently than
be
Condescension
weakness,
was
at least as cruel
himself said
as
" I desire that
my word
should
a law more inevitable than
death.
the
in
should guard our frontiers more
chains or fortresses, that
the natives
for
men and
eyes
Asiatics
of
is
am
and out of pure humanity I
sign
of
inexorably
One execution saves hundreds of Russians from
severe.
Mussulmans from
destruction,
and thousands
of
"In
words,"
Potto,
these
He
system.
says
regarded
"we have
the tribes,
all
inhabiting the mountains of the
treason."
his
whole
'peaceable' or not,
Caucasus, as
de facto
Russian subjects, or destined to be so sooner or
and in
any
submission.
demanded from them
case
And
in
his
later,
unconditional
hands the former
system
of
bribery and subsidies gave place to one of severe punish-
ments, of harsh, even cruel, measures, but always com-
bined with justice and magnanimity."
Politically,
it
is
came in, but in this respect

Russia was only doing what England and all other
civilised States have done, and still do, wherever they
come in contact with savage or semi-savage races. By
difficult to see
force or
where
justice
by fraud a portion of the country
sooner or later, on one excuse
bound
is
or another,
taken, and,
the rest
is
to follow.
Administratively, on the
1
Potto,
other hand, something
op. tit., II.
i.
p. 15.
may
98
be said for the claim thus boldly advanced, for Yerm6loff
was wont
to
should be sacred,
believe
that the word of a Russian official
insist
that the natives might be
so
more firmly than the Koran
it
itself;
led
and
to
to the
extent of his power he enforced good faith on either side.
comes then
It
to this,
that if once
we allow
Russia's
claim to exact submission and obedience from the tribes

if,
further,
we admit
the right of
man
to play the part of
Providence in punishing the innocent with the
and both alike with the utmost

lofFs justification is
complete.
severity,
guilty,
then Yerm6-
Yet a tolerance
so
wide
would vindicate not his misdeeds alone but the crimes

of a Tamerlane, and, failing a reversion to Old Testament
ideas of man's duty to man, Christianity must ever re-
probate the one and the other.
There are native songs, composed on the occasion of
some of YermdlofFs
singular mixture of fear
betray the
by grim
spired
terrible punitive
"
expeditions,
which
and admiration
Yarmoul," as they called him
in-
and the
we know were roused by Skdbeleff amongst

the Tekkes, and by many another Russian general in the
Caucasus and elsewhere. But, as we pass in review his
ten years' rule, still more when we come to consider the
same
feelings
he achieved,
results
it
will perhaps be difficult to accept
without serious modification the estimate of his fellow-
countrymen.
It will
be found that Nicholas
embodiment of
I.,
who
stands for the
chivalry, deliberately advocated a policy of
up one tribe against another in order that Russia

by their dissensions, knowing full well the
Alexander I., on the contrary, was ever
horrors involved.
humane. The cruelty so rife in the Caucasus caused him
stirring
might
profit
genuine
distress.
He
repeatedly inculcated
a resort to
99
more merciful measures, expressed his abhorrence of unnecessary bloodshed, and on one occasion, not many
months before his death, refused to confer the St. George's
recommended by Yermdloff, on Prince Bdkovitch-
Cross,
Tcherkasky because, in a daring and successful raid beyond

the Kouban, that savage leader had destroyed a populous
aoul, sparing neither
Alexander
is
is
women
impugned
nor children. 1
as
weak and
visionary,
and
it
probable that Rteeshtcheffs reputation, too, has suffered
unduly from the fact that he was of a nature both chivalrous and humane.
His unwillingness
to resort to
harsh
measures, his attempt to win over the natives by justice
and kindness, found no favour with the men of Souvdroffs
Yermoloff treated
school.
condemned them
that his predecessor has ever
both weak and incapable.

conditions
what
Yermoloff.
different
We
been stigmatised as
command, under
over the
conditions
he
shall note, presently,
of affairs in the Caucasus
way
since
But we have seen under what
Rteeshtcheff took
totally
them with scorn and
no measured terms, with the result
in
when
surrendered
what was the
the latter
in turn
it
to
state
made
for PaskieVitch.
Yermdloffs central idea was that the whole of the
Caucasus must, and should, become an integral part of

the Russian Empire
that the existence of independent
or semi-independent States or communities of

tion,
any descrip-
whether Christian, Mussulman, or Pagan, in the
mountains or on the plains, was incompatible with the

dignity
and honour of
of his subjects.
On
his master, the safety
this idea
and welfare
was based the whole of
his
policy, every one of his administrative measures, every

movement of the troops under his command, and to the
1
Alexander
I.
to Yerm61off, 29th September 1845
Pog6din,
p. 325.
100
end thus
clearly set
up
in his
own mind he from
the
beginning devoted himself heart and soul.
autumn of 1816, he
Arriving at Ghedrghievsk in the
made but a
short stay there to acquaint himself with the
state of affairs in the north,
then hurried on to
Tiflis,
which
on the 10th October.

Both north and south of the mountains he found much
place he reached
to displease him, 1
ment
and he has
at the little that
the Russians
in
left
on record his astonishto secure and confirm
had been done
He
their possessions.
would willingly
have taken in hand the necessary reforms without delay,

but the mission to Persia was urgent, and, indeed, caused
him very
serious misgivings.
had undertaken
to
it
Unused
diplomacy, he
with reluctance, feeling strongly that
win through such an ordeal with
credit to himself
beyond any
satisfaction to his sovereign needed,
tions
to
and
qualifica-
he possessed, no common measure of good luck.
Feth
Ali,
though no longer encouraged by his English
had not yet lost hope of recovering the khanates

ceded by the treaty of Gulistan, or at least a considerable
To this end he had sent a special envoy,
part of them.
Abdoul Hassan Khan, to St. Petersburg; but the Tsar,
friends,
"
while empowering Yerm6loff to " see what could be done
towards satisfying the Shah's desires, stated clearly in his

reply to the envoy's representations that his
first
be the safety and honour of Russia, and gave

of any territorial concession whatever.
It
1
was YermolofFs task
to put
care
must
little
hope
an end once for
all to
Pog6din, 255.
Potto states that Yermoloffs business was to evade the fulfilment of a
promise actually given by Alexander I. to restore at least a portion of the
khanates (op. cit., vol. II. i. p. 14). But the authentic documents cited by
Doubr6vin (vol. vi. chapter x.), and the Emperor's instructions to Yerm61off
of the 29th July 1816 (Akti, vol. vi. ii. 122), furnish proof positive that no such
promise was either made or contemplated.
2

Feth
Ali's cherished desires, yet at the
lish,
if possible,
101
same time to estab-
genuinely peaceful and friendly relations
between the two Courts.
To
this
end English influence
must be undermined by all means, and eventually, if

1
possible, destroyed.
If some slight rectifications of the
frontier
were found compatible with Russia's
might to that extent give way, 2 but anything
interests,
he
like restoration
on a large
scale
less likely
than Yerm61off to abandon an inch of territory
already
won
was
really out of all question,
would have been
it
difficult to
order, however, to prepare himself fully to
and
trary arguments
justify his
and any one

choose.
In
meet any con-
Majesty's views, he
was
ordered to visit the khanates in person before setting out
He
for Persia.
journeyed accordingly from one to another,
growing more and more convinced of their value and

strategic importance to Russia,
mined not
to cede
Delayed by
and more and more
this tour of inspection, and, after crossing
the Persian frontier, by the intrigues of
he
others,
and
finally
there,
way by
in
deter-
any part of any one of them. 3
met the Shah
spite of the
Abbas Mirza and
at Sultanieh in July (1817),
many
difficulties
put in his
the anti-Russian clique, headed by the kaimakan,
Bazurg, Abbas Mirza's chief adviser, he carried a seemingly
almost impossible mission to a triumphant conclusion.

Penetrating the characters of Feth Ali and his Ministers,
he resorted with some of them, including the Shah himself,

to the grossest flattery, while with others, and notably
with Bazurg, he gave
full
play to his
own
limitless arro-
In conversation with the "Refuge of the Universe,"

not once only," writes Yermdloff himself,
happened
"it
" that, praising his Majesty's rare and exalted qualities of
gance.
Akti,
vi. ii. p.
Akti,
vi.
ii.
p. 122.
Akti,
vi.
ii.
p.
122
142
Pog6din, 195.
Yerm61off to Alexander, 9th January 1817.
102
and assuring him how vastly I was devoted to him

and affected by his perfections, I summoned the tears to
my eyes, and simply melted with emotion." But speaking
soul,
beforehand to one of the Ministers, he took a very different

" It is
line.
my
duty to look to the honour of
my
master
Shah receives me coldly, or

during the subsequent negotiations I see any intention of
breaking the peace, I will myself declare war, nor end it
until I have made the Aras my boundary." 1
The fact that
Yermoloff was not only ambassador but commander-in-chief
gave weight to this threat, the effect being heightened by the
and of Russia, and
fact that "
what
my
felt,
pression of a
if
the
grim visage always expressed pretty clearly
and when I spoke of war conveyed the im-
man
ready to set his teeth in their throats.
Unluckily for them I noticed
how
they liked
little
this,
and
consequently, whenever more reasonable arguments were
my
wanting, I relied on
wild beast's muzzle, gigantic and
and extensive throat
terrifying figure,
who
vinced that any one
Persians seemed to hear not
my
When
I spoke the
voice alone, but the voices
Yerm61off refused absolutely to put on
the customary red stockings
when
visiting either
Abbas
Of General Gardanne, Napoleon's

who made no such objection, he said, "After the
Mirza or the Shah.

envoy,
were con-
could shout so vociferously must
have good and weighty reasons. 2

of 100,000 men."
for they
red cap of Liberty, the red socks of Servitude
naturally
"
!
Yerm61off to Nesselrode, October 1817. Pog6din, 208.

vi. ii. p. 179
Yerm61off to Count Zakrevsky, 12th October 1817 Pog6din, 241.
3 Yet the Emperor had written, sensibly enough
" In Asiatic ceremonials
there are many things that, owing to their strangeness, often appear improper
to foreigners in such cases you must be reasonable, for it is not difficult to
distinguish what is merely customary from such things as may justly be considered humiliating.'' The truth is, that Yerm61offs conduct was the result
See his despatches. Akti, vi. ii. pp. 144-5
of Mazarovitch's urgent advice.
Akti,
Pog6din, 201.
103
and attributing a similar complaisance on the part of the

English to a desire to preserve their commercial advantages,
he remarked
later on, "
As
was animated neither
by the feelings of a Napoleonic
spy,
nor by the sordid
calculations of a shopkeeping nation's clerk, I consented
neither to the red stockings nor to the other conditions."
He
claimed, without any warrant, Djenghis
ancestor,
and remarked with
looked with no
redoubtable a conqueror."
But
satisfaction that
respect
little
as his
"the Shah
on the descendant of so
must not be supposed that
it
Khan
this singular being
neglected the more usual and obvious resources of diplo-
good reasons why Persia
macy.
There were in
should
dread another war with Russia, and these were
reality very
Above
urged in the most convincing manner.

loff laid stress
on the danger to the royal house,
Ali had some sixty sons, and
had
Abbas Mirza, not the
cession of
all,
set his heart

eldest.
YermdFeth
for
on the suc-
In the event of
another defeat, dissensions would surely break out amongst
them,
civil
war would ensue, and might end
disastrously,
not only for Feth Ali's darling project, but for the Kadjar
dynasty
itself.
In the end Feth
Ali,
upon
personality seems to have
whom
made an
Yermoloff's strange
extraordinarily favour-
able impression, and whose rule over the khanates in

question had in reality been little more than nominal,
suffered himself to be persuaded or cajoled.
tained
all
triumph.
her
conquests,
and
Yerm61off
Russia
re-
returned
in
But, going and coming, he had passed through
Tabriz, the residence of
Abbas Mirza
and his high-handed,
not to say insolent treatment of that prince confirmed the

latter in his hostility to Russia,
1
and made him Yermoloff's
Pogddin, 228.
104
enemy, a fact that had no
bitterest
coming
events.
fully satisfied
Russia's improvised ambassador, however,
with the immediate success of his mission,
and caring not a

hastened to
on
influence
little
Tiflis,
Abbas Mirza
jot for
his
or
feelings,
own mind
already determined in his
to
reduce the khanates to Russian provinces, though con-
on
strained, first of all, to devote his attention to affairs
the northern Line.
Here the position was very much as it had been for

There was no open warfare, but there was
continual unrest.
No man's life was safe outside the forts
and stanitsas robbery and murder were rife and raiding
parties, great and small, harried the fields, the farms, and
decades past.
the weaker settlements.
It
was imperative,
doubtless, to
put an end to this state of things, either by peaceable
means
or
by force of arms.
It is quite possible that the
former alternative would have

fair trial
and in judging the
But
failed.
natives,
it
is
it
never had a
grossly unjust
and do,
to leave out of account, as the Russians always did,
the fact that they were the aggressors, the invaders, the
occupiers of lands to which they
might.
It
would be
futile to
serious indictment, for
it is
make
and
to
it
title
but that of
this the base of
any
but the old story of the contact
of civilised with barbarous races
other hand,
had no
all
the world over
on the
explains the attitude of the native tribes,
some extent
palliates their crimes.
Nor was
it
case of honest, peaceable settlers on the one side, ferocious
brigands on the other.
Between Cossack and
the moral point of view, there was often
little
native,
from
to choose
not seldom, indeed, the balance of merit distinctly favoured

the latter
and to
On
this
day the rare
traveller
who knows
crossing the frontier he exclaimed, "To you, to you, O Persia, I

'consecrate my hatred; and putting my curse upon you, I prophesy your
i
downfall": Pog6din, 231.
105
the language and customs even of the worst of the tribes

is
safer
amongst them than in the neighbouring Cossack
settlements.
Be
this as it
may, Yermoloff's mind was made up.
natives without exception
must submit
The
and, to begin with,
the Tchetchens.
Note. Tchetchnia was sometimes divided by the Russians into

Greater and Lesser, to the east and west of the river Argoun respectively.
CHAPTER
VII
1818
Building of Grozny
Veliameenoff His early career, character, and policy

His Memoir and Commentary on Paskievitch's letter Comparison between Cossack and native Plans for the subjugation of the Caucasus
Yerm6loff found the
strip
and the Soundja, with
its
of land between the
double range of
Te"rek
hills separated
by the valley of the Neftianka, occupied by the so-called

" peaceable " Tchetchens, who, on the retirement of the
Grebdntsi across the first-named river and the weakening
Koumuik and Kabardan
of the authority of the
had established themselves there

of lawless independence.
the
allies
princes,
and lived a
in aouls,
life
Ostensibly the friends and even
of Russia, they were, naturally enough, in com-
sympathy with their marauding kinsmen, who, as well

as the numerous Russian deserters, found amongst them a
sure refuge from pursuit and a convenient base for their
plete
raiding operations against the Line.
It
was primarily
to
put an end to this state of things that Yerm61off under-
took the construction of Grozny and other

"
When
fortified places.
the fortresses are ready," he wrote to the Emperor,
" I shall offer the scoundrels dwelling between the Tdrek
and the Soundja, and

of
life,
and
calling themselves
certain obligations, that will
I will apportion
sary
amount of
retire
clear to
and not
them
allies,
as
If they submit, as they ought,
them according
to their
land, dividing the rest
and the Kara-nogais;
peaceable,' rules
make
that they are subjects of your Majesty,
they have hitherto dreamed.
'
if not, I
numbers the neces-
among
the Cossacks
shall propose to
and join the other robbers from
whom
them
they
to
differ
107
only in name, and in this case the whole of the land will
be at our disposal." 1
In 1817,
when he
left
the Line to
gave orders to build the small
visit Persia,
Yermoloff
fort called Prigradni Stan,
near the present Mikhailovskaya
stanitsa,
a proceeding
which was viewed with alarm and disfavour by the Tchetchens, so that when he returned the following year he
found them anything but peaceable. This, however, only
confirmed him in his ideas, and he
set to
work without
delay to build his " menace " in stone. 2
strong force was collected, and encamped
on the
present site of Grozny, and on the 10th June 1818 the
foundations of a six-bastioned fortress were solemnly laid,
with the usual accompaniments of prayer and cannon-firing.
There could no longer be room
for
doubt as to the Russian
commander's intentions, and the natives at once broke

out into open,
if
"
and watching, and

Tchetchens a lesson.
chosen
men
should
The camp was

worn out by hard work
unorganised, hostility.
" sniped " each night, the soldiers
Yarmoul " determined

was arranged that an
It
make
to
give the
escort of fifty
pretence at nightfall of abandon-
ing a gun at a certain spot, the distance of which had been

carefully
measured and
all
The ruse succeeded
it.
the remaining guns trained upon
the Tchetchens in numbers rushed
out of their hiding-places and took possession of the gun

in triumph, to be
mown down
storm of grape and canister.

stood for a minute
or
two
recovering themselves, took

1
1
Potto, vol. H. i.
Though Grozny
a few moments later by a
Those who remained unhurt

lost
up
in astonishment;
their
then,
dead and wounded
p. 83.
as the soubriquet of the Moscovite Tsar Ivan IV.
is
enough rendered " The Terrible," the primary meaning of the word
is " menacing," and it was in this sense that Yerm61off, who might justly have
claimed the epithet in its intensified form for himself, applied it to his new
fortress on the Soundja.
correctly
108
comrades, and attempted to carry them
had been
fatal
But the delay
off.
again the Russian guns poured in their hail
of bullets, and with the same deadly
"
effect.
Two hundred
dead and as many wounded, abandoned on the scene of the
and
for a long time
took away the appetite for night attacks."
The lesson was

and relentless
catastrophe, served as a good lesson,
a good one, but what
it
taught was a
hatred of the infidel invader
fierce
for forty years the
Tchetchens
remained the irreconcilable enemies of Russia, and during

all
that time
and longer Yermoloff's
priately baptized with fire
the
fortress,
so appro-
and blood, stood out grimly on
bank of the Soundja, a " menace " to the foe, and

refuge and gathering-place for the regular troops and
left
a safe
Here were the headquarters of the
Cossacks of the Line.
Russian army facing Tchetchnia, and from this point countless
expeditions set forth with varying success to punish
raiders,
harry their fields and villages in turn, avenge de-
feats, establish
new
posts, relieve beleaguered garrisons, or
In Grozny Yerm61off
rescue retreating bands and armies.
a semi-underground hutnow the
dwelt in his zemlianka

pride of the
town
at
Grozny General Freitag gathered his
forces, to burst like a thunderbolt
on the Tchetchens near
Gherzel aoul, and save from annihilation the remnant of
From Grozny Yevdo-
Prince Vdrontsoff's army in 1845.
keemoff
set out
on the Argoun expedition of 1858.
the fort on the Soundja deserved
its
the position was reversed, and Grozny
even bombarded.
gone, and the
name
itself
It exists to this day,
name
of Grozny has
Truly
yet at times
threatened and
but
now a
its
vocation
far other
is
and
most peaceful significance in the ears not only of Russian

and Tchetchen, but of people in distant countries who never
even heard the name of
1
The Grozny
oil-fields
its
founder. 1
come next
in importance to those of Baku.

In the midst of modern Grozny, railed
and overshadowed by
of the
side
streets
tablet
and
inscription
it
from
trees,
the
with a
by a
rain
a square pedestal surmounted by his bust in bronze.
From an
point of view the
artistic
satisfactory,
but
monument
was a happy idea
it
to
rough dwelling of one of Russia's greatest
will recur
it
is
not very
preserve this
soldiers.
name has been mentioned more than
Veliameenoff's
once
from one
off
stands Yermoloff's zemlianka, and
machicolated parapet,
on
protected
109
again and again
and
no history of
the conquest of the Caucasus would be complete without

a biography, however brief, of this remarkable man,
was chief of the staff

command, and, as the
who
to Yerm61off during his ten years'

latter
himself
said,
his alter ego.
Russian military writers, even Yermdloff's eulogists, confess that it is difficult,
the merits and
impossible in fact, to distinguish
services of the two, so perfect
But
friendly collaboration.
may
it
safely
while Yermoloff was the greater man, the more

ing
personality,
Veliameenoff
their
said
that
him
commandin
ability,
and military knowledge.
culture,
One
year younger than Yermoloff, he never achieved
one-tenth of the
latter's
popularity or fame
was almost equally brilliant, and
The reason
greater.
is
who brought
his merits in
not far to seek.
parts, assiduously cultivated
history,
surpassed
was
be
yet his career
some respects
man
of great
a zealous student of military
the teaching of the past to bear
on the problems of the day, yet with a mind ever ready

to profit by the circumstances of the moment and adapt
and strategy to immediate requirements; prompt

to conceive and quick to strike ; of an iron will and invintactics
an able organiser absolutely fearless

and no less richly endowed with moral courage,
cible determination
in battle
110
he
possessed
that
in
command
degree
superlative
all
the
qualities
the respect of soldiers, but few that excite
their enthusiasm,
none that
cool, silent, impenetrable,
Calm,
enlist their affection.
he was inexorably severe to his
own men,
merciless to the foe and he was feared, admired,

and hated by both. Yet there is not wanting testimony
that under this cold and callous exterior a human heart
was beating, rarely as he allowed it to influence his
;
He
actions.
now and again
did seek favour or protection
for another, for
himself never.
Like Yermoloff, Veliameenoff was an
artillery officer,
though when or where he studied that branch of arms
unknown.
fourteen
He
entered the army at a
still
is
age
earlier
in the Semionovsky regiment of foot-guards, but
was a sub -lieutenant of

he won his spurs
artillery at sixteen.
at Austerlitz
was
A year
later
at the siege of Silistria
1810; wounded in the forlorn hope at the storming of

Rustchuk; and in the "War of the Fatherland" (1812)
in
fought with distinction at Borodino and Krasnoe, where
he gained the coveted
St.
The following year we
find
and in 1814
George, then rarely granted.
him
at
Lutzen and Bautzen,
and taking of
at the siege
Paris.
All this
time he was fighting side by side with Yermoloff, and
two years
later
than the
many
Caucasus, where, after

divided between
When
he was transferred to the
lesser fights, the
twin heroes
them the glory of the capture of Gandja.
made commander-in-chief
Yermdloff was
Caucasus, Alexander
I.
meenoff chief of the

Veliameenoff,
latter
who was
his
at
staff.
request
in
the
appointed Velia-
In the war of
1828-29
naturally no friend to Paskievitch,
served in European Turkey; but in 1831 he returned to
the Caucasus with the rank of lieutenant-general.

.*
Pog6din, 192
Yerm61ofFs diary.
His

actions
there
come before us
will
in
due course
111
they
were uniformly successful; but his fame amongst military

students rests less on his leadership in the field than on
and organising work; the
his masterly administrative
regulations for the service of the Line
he drew up
tary
in
1828
able
Memoir
the prophetic
and the luminous adverse Commen3
on Prince Paskie'vitch's proposals
(6 th
May
1830) for
the conduct of the war in the Caucasus, which, careless

of offence to that brilliant commander,
his third successive
who had
just brought
campaign to a happy conclusion, he
wrote in July 1832 at the Emperor's command.

contained in this
Memoir and Commentary
have been at the base of

long struggle, and
it
all
when
ideas
held to
was successful
that
certain that
is
The
are
in the
the principles
Veliameenoff so eloquently advocated and so
brilliantly
put
into practice were departed from, disaster dogged the heels
of his successors.
was wrong.
But
it
does not follow that Paski^vitch
system that never had a
fair trial
cannot
must ever be remembered that when Paskievitch and Yermoloff are combe condemned unconditionally, and
it
pared in modern times, the former meets with scant justice.

Yermoloff's
system,
as
is
forcibly
by the
the test, and
pointed out
Emperor Nicholas, broke down when put
to
of a certainty neither he nor Veliameenoff gauged correctly
the latent forces
of the twin passions, religious fanati-
cism and love of liberty
and the
latter
in other words, of
insisted as a sine
Muridism;
qua non on the
total
disarmament of the mountaineers, a measure attempted

1
Kavkazsky Sbomik, vol. xv. p. 522.

full in Kavkazsky Sbomik, vol. vii. pp. 78-144.
pages furnish many details as to VeliameonofFs career.
2
Given in
Ibid., vol. xii. p. 64.
This
p. 569.
is
admitted even by their panegyrists
The preceding
Kavltaztky Sbornik, vol. xv.
112
in vain on various occasions, and
after
still,
a lapse of
more than three-quarters of a century, unaccomplished.

Veliameenoff in his Memoir 1 took his stand on
the total inefficacy of conciliatory measures,
He
the mountaineers by force of arms.

persistent
as
on the absolute necessity of subduing
corollary, insisted
hostility to their ignorance
of Russia,
resources
and,
the
to
attributed their
of the power and
occasional success
of their
raiding expeditions and corresponding Russian failures, and
which led them
to that cast of thought
and generosity as a proof of weakness unless
friendliness
accompanied by constant success in the

force is the chief
means of
order to attain this end
field.
..." Armed
bridling the peoples of the
The only question
Caucasus.
"
to interpret all
is
how
employ
to
The Caucasus," he continues, " may be likened
mighty fortress, marvellously strong by nature,

protected by military works,
Only
garrison.
such
thoughtless
stronghold.
in
it
"
to
artificially
and defended by a numerous
men would
wise
attempt
to
commander would
escalade
see
the
of having recourse to military art; would lay

his parallels; advance by sap and mine, and so master
necessity
in the same way,

not
drawn up
referred
action.
to
my
The Caucasus, in
the place.
to,
But
and even
opinion, must be treated
if the method of procedure is
beforehand, so that
the very nature
it
may
be continually
of things will compel such
in this case success will be far slower, owing
frequent deviations
from
the right path."
Memorable
words
The
Line, as
it
existed
up
to 1816, that
is,
up
to Yer-
1
What follows throws so much light hoth on the forest warfare now about
to become chronic and on YermolofPs policy and methods, that it has been
thought better to insert it here rather than at the end of the Yermoloff period,
to which in point of time it belongs.

on the
moloff's arrival
parallel,
and
it
113
scene, Veliameenoff counted the first
followed, broadly speaking, the line of the
Terek and Kouban, which with their confluents turn respectively east
and west
after issuing
from the mountains, and
cover nine-tenths of the distance between the two seas.
The second
parallel
was commenced, as we have
seen,
by Yerm61off, but, owing to a variety of circumstances, was

carried
by him only
as far west as the river
Malka, and
therefore affected only the eastern Caucasus.
The
further progress of the siege, the laying of the
third parallel, the gradual sapping

final
assault
it
is
the
object
and mining, and the
of the following pages to
describe; while of those deviations from the right path
which prolonged the war for more than a quarter of a

century, ample illustration will not be lacking.
In the Commentary Veliameenoff begins by objecting
most decidedly
purely defensive policy advocated
to the
by Paskievitch, pointing out that not only was it vicious

in principle, as shown by the military history of the past,
but that as applied to the " Line
"
of the
Caucasus
it
involved various special disadvantages, such as the impossibility of
rapid concentration of large forces or their trans-
ference to the scene of action, the necessarily complicated
nature of
all
operations,
and the irresponsible action of
various subordinate commanders, few of them competent,

inevitable
on such a length of
were scattered in
It followed that the
him
which the troops
driblets.
mountaineers must be subdued and
disarmed, but that would

this leads
line along
demand
considerable means, and
to a very interesting comparison
between the
Cossack and his native opponent.
"The mountaineers
villages
in their raids
on
stanitsas
and marauding expeditions in small
parties
and
are
114
always mounted
there are very rarely any Tchetchens on
foot in the smaller bands.
"
The mounted
natives are very superior in
many ways
They
both to our regular cavalry and the Cossacks.
are all
but born on horseback, and being used to riding from their

earliest
years,
become extremely expert
in
this
art,
and
accustomed to covering great distances without fatigue.
Having an abundance of horses not pampered in stables,

they choose those only which are noted for their swiftness,
strength, and activity.
Amongst them animals are by no
means rare that on a summer's day can carry their rider
150 versts (100 miles) between dawn and sunset.
In
Europe, of course, this will sound untrue, but throughout
Western Asia
it
will surprise
no one.
Selecting one horse
when on the
out of many, the native takes care of him
move; never employs him on any considerable journey

(i.e. other than raiding), and for a raid uses absolutely no
animal under eight years
"The
old.
mountaineers' weapons are their personal pro-
handed down from generation to generation. They

value them very highly, carefully preserve them, and keep
perty,
them in
excellent order.
koriazi (" princes ")

in field
work
very few of
their
and ouzdens ; the yassiri
cultivated
work
who
is
(This applies
who have
Amongst
to
the
and
tribes
cattle
performed by the
at if
west of
those races (such as the
women
is
all
domestic
while those of the
are sufficiently well off do hardly
be wondered
in
neither princes nor ouzdens, the land
by a small number of slaves;
Their only occupation

to
are occupied
them accompany the princes and ouzdens
the Georgian road.)
is
military class consists of the
or the pasturing of horses, sheep
expeditions.
Tchetchens)
The
any work at
raiding, and, therefore,
it
is
men
all.
not
they become very adroit riders, use

their
weapons most
skilfully,
115
have a close acquaintance
with the topography of the country and use
to advan-
it
tage, all their undertakings being cleverly planned.
"The
Cossack, on the other hand,
an
is
agriculturist
Being very often withdrawn from
as well as a soldier.
his military occupations by field
work
home, he can-
at
not use either horse or arms with the same
mountaineer
own
his
nor, being for the
house,
is it
possible for
most part of the time near
him
to
with topographical details over a wide

is
not constantly fixed on military
become acquainted
His attention
area.
and therefore
affairs,
he has neither the knowledge nor the capacity

advantage of the
centuries
of
for taking
of the country, so noticeable in the
His arms are worse than those of the
mountaineer.
and he has
lie
far fewer really
makes success
necessity
for
the
as the
skill
good
natives,
The custom of
horses.
in military undertakings a matter
native.
Without
he
it
will
find
amongst his own compatriots neither friendship nor confidence nor respect.
He becomes a laughing-stock and an
object of contempt even for the
women, not one of
whom
would join her fate to his. From this it follows that there
are always amongst the natives men remarkably qualified
for
raiding warfare.
Thirst for gain
is
powerful inducements at the bottom of

prises.
And
also
all
one of the
their
enter-
these considerations suffice almost to drive
the mountaineer altogether from his
house
during
season suited to raiding expeditions.
He
continually
on the look-out
for
something to
is
seize upon,
and has
the
all
the advantages that fall in every kind of warfare to the
attacking side.
The Cossack, on the
contrary, being
on
the defensive, spends most of his time in vainly awaiting
enemy. If he does hear of his appearing at any spot,

he frequently has to gallop a long way before he can reach
his
116
His mind
him.
is
not influenced by any one of the con-
In pursuing the enemy he

Work and danger are almost
siderations enumerated above.
has not even spoil in view.

his only
alone
Against these disadvantages
lot.
an
respects,
must
it
amongst
be
the
anarchy
the
admitted
that
so
fatal
natives,
in
all
other
has one serious advantage in their raiding war-
namely,
fare,
discipline
insufficient compensation.
"Finally,
prevailing
we have
that
any
man endowed by
Nature with
the necessary qualities finds the road open to fame and

leadership.
"To
my
prevent misunderstandings that might arise from
remarks on the field-marshal's [Prince PaskieVitch's]
must explain how the mountaineers carry out

As
their raids, both on a large and on a small scale.
above stated, they make attacks in force on stanitsas
I
letter,
and
villages.
To
this end, all
who wish
such an enterprise meet at some
to take part in
appointed place and
take up their quarters in the neighbouring aouls.
meeting
lasts
two weeks, and nearly

The nearest commanding officer on the
never
always longer.
less
line invariably receives
as
ing,
The
than
spies of the gather-
news through
does the chief of the line
if
not far from the
But where and when the blow will be struck there

means
of knowing. The natives always keep their
no
intentions a profound secret, and in such undertakings
no one but the leader knows what he actually proposes
spot.
is
to do.
"As
attacks
the only object of the raids
any stanitsa or village that
another seems most
convenient.
is
for
loot,
the
enemy
one reason
For this reason
it
or
is
impossible to foretell with certainty where the blow will

fall.
One may
guess,
from the gathering-place, what part
117
of the Line will most probably be chosen, but even this
much
always
not
is
having everywhere a
But
number
as the
be
sufficient
force
for
necessity
over-divided, the
decidedly
is
and what there are must not
majority of the
and
stanitsas
lages remain without immediate protection,
my
opinion, to prevent their raids
vil-
mounThe best
and the
taineers of course choose these for their attacks.
way, in
of
defence.
local
of troops in the Caucasus
the demand,
unequal to
Hence the
certain.
is
to collect a
march out to meet the hostile band, and

But this means is also not sure it often
sufficient force,
disperse
it.
happens that the enemy, hearing of the movement of the

take another direction, deliver their attack,
troops,
return with their
spoil,
man
each
The experience of many
question and cut off the retreat.
shows that
variably attain
"I have
in
such
affairs
some measure of
the natives almost in-
success.
said that the gathering of the
enemy
for im-
portant raids lasts a considerable time, but the attack

or final execution of the project,
is
seldom happens that an attack
It
and
own home,
the troops seeking them can reach the point in
before
years
to
his
Then
hours.
the
enemy, with
itself,
of extreme rapidity.
lasts
more than two

and
prisoners
loot,
re-
treats hurriedly, but hardly ever by the way he came,
especially
if
meeting the
be remarked that the natives, being

absolutely
quire
any
difficulty.
if
Here
least resistance.
unencumbered with heavy
all
it
may
mounted and
loads,
scarcely
re-
roads, but ride over the fields without the least
In this way they can always avoid infantry, even
they do happen to meet
they have no need
to
it
on their way.
keep any given
direction.
In
retiring,
Once
across
the frontier, they find shelter and food wherever they go.
At
the
first
opportunity they divide the spoil obtained
118
own home
during the raid, and then each returns to his
with the share that has fallen to him.
"During my
service
in
the
Caucasus I tried more
once to think out a sure means to ward
than
and must confess that
attacks,
no
I can find
Watchfulness, activity, a
solution.
off these
satisfactory
surveillance to
strict
ensure that instructions are carried out, and topographical

information, help, more or
no
enterprises, but give
"
and
On
autumn,
January
i.e.
;
small
in
counteract the enemy's
certain guarantee of success.
Caucasus the mountaineers rob
the line of the
harry
less, to
parties,
and
spring
in
preferably
from April to July and from September to
during the rest of the year these
attacks
are
In winter, they are prevented by the cold and the
rare.
want of pasturage in summer, by the great heat, the

horseflies, and the spates in the rivers, which leave few
fords, and even those mostly difficult.
In the Black Sea
district, on the contrary, attacks both in force and by
;
small parties take place mostly in winter,
ban
is
At
frozen over.
river prevents
crossing,
when
other seasons the
and
the
Kou-
depth of the
for this reason the attempts
of the mountaineers are infrequent and less successful.

" It will not, I think, be superfluous to speak here of
method of training horses for raids in general, and

especially for those on a small scale.
Two months or
more before the beginning of the convenient season the
the
owner begins
while.
to feed
During
five
up
his horse, letting
or six
him
weeks the animal
an extraordinary degree and his belly
swells.
amount of food
little.
is
is
diminished
little
by
rest the
fattens
to
Then the
The horse
ridden lightly and put to stand up to his middle in
The first few days he is ridden only at

a walk, and then more and more, and when the layer of
water every day.
119
begins to disappear and the animal grows accustomed
fat
made
more and more and
to exercise,
he
and
each day, wearing down the fat until he
faster
is
and able
quite lean
to trot
to gallop long distances
faster
at ease.
is
It
takes two or three weeks to train a horse in this way,
but in that time the fat disappears, the

subsides, the muscles
become
firm,
swollen belly
and the animal
is
fit
hard and prolonged work.
The Cossack being always

on the defensive seldom has the chance of training his
for
horse in such a fashion, and this fact in
itself
not in-
frequently helps the raiders to distance their pursuers.

" Setting out
on any expedition, the mountaineer bur-
On
the road he obtains
rarely
happens that any
dens himself with nothing heavy.

food from his
'
kounakhs
it
'
one takes millet enough for even two or three days, and
then only when the journey
is
long and no means of
procuring supplies in view.
Up
to the point of attack
the band rides quietly, saving the horses' strength for the
return journey.
up with
As near
as possible they halt
their friends, sometimes for several days, getting
information and spying out
and where
all
the time the safest route,
the carelessness of the inhabitants or of the
troops gives the best chance of success.

dition
and put
present,
is
enterprise.
In
this
If neither con-
the band retires or finds some other
way the
raiders nearly always attack
unexpectedly and in places where
defence
is
wanting.
If they succeed in getting hold of anything they retreat

in haste.
In the event of pursuit they try to escape,
even abandoning their spoil when absolutely necessary,

and fight their pursuers only in extreme cases, that is,
when escape
1
is
otherwise impossible.
a friend, one whose hospitality you have experienced.

a point of honour with a "kounakh" to be faithful unto death.
"Kounakh" means
It was,
and
is,
120
" In
name,
this
all
kind of warfare,
if
we can
advantages are with the attack,
call it
all
by that
disadvantages
Napoleon experienced this in Egypt.

Having driven out the Mamelukes, he was placed by
circumstances in that very position of defence in which
with the defence.
we are now on the Line and in the Black Sea district.

The expelled Mamelukes and nomad Arabs of the desert
very frequently attacked his couriers,
the
villages
whence
French
the
his
convoys,
drew their
and
supplies.
They drove off horses and cattle, robbed the inhabitants,

killed them or took them prisoners.
This lasted the
whole time the French were in Egypt, and if Napoleon
failed to find a satisfactory means of dealing with this
kind of war, one may be allowed to think that the Caucasus will not be entirely peaceful until the mountaineers
are definitely conquered
Coming
to
and disarmed."
recommendation
PaskieVitch's
to
occupy
" strategic points," Veliameenoff discusses with wealth of
from Alexander the Great down to

Napoleon, the nature and characteristics of such points,
historical illustration,
and turning
mountain
to the Caucasus,
tribes
none
exist
shows that in respect of the

an opinion true at the time,
but one he would doubtless have modified to some extent
had he lived to see the later phases of the war. He was

"
dealing, it must be remembered, with a " war of raiders
carried on over a vast extent of country by numberless
independent leaders, with no
Even the junctions

of their
common aim
but that of
loot.
of the roads or paths were deprived
importance by the fact that the enemy, being
mounted, and without
no more confined
artillery or
to beaten tracks
wheeled transport, was

than the beasts of the
forest.
Another of Paskievitch's suggestions, the forming of

cavalry regiments, 1
native
drawn from the
he disposes of by arguments
of the Byzantine Empire,
latter days
references to the disloyalty of the Kizliar Cossacks
and
121
by
Tartars
Em-
objection on the score of expense, while the
sowing dissensions by egging on
peror's favourite idea of
the natives to fight each other he puts aside with uncom-
How
promising decision.
employed
the
Koumuiks
he asks, have we not
often,
against
the
Tchetchens against the Kabardans, the
the
Tchetchens,
latter against the
trans-Kouban Nogais, these in turn against the Abadzekhs
and Shapsougs, yet

slightest
had not given
enmity amongst them.
against Russia the
throwing her
was
policy
this
all
What
to
the
All were ready to join
moment they saw
rule.
rise
a chance of over-
hatred did result from this
directed not against any tribe or nation, but
against individual leaders in the service of Russia, such

as Prince B^kovitch-Tcherkasky,
Having disposed in
one
this
way
Moussa Khasayeff,
&c. &c.
of PaskieVitch's proposals
after another, Veliameenoff reverts to his
the natives must be subdued and disarmed.
dictum that
In a sepa-
memorandum, dated 20th May 1833, he proceeds

own matured plan for the attainment of
rate
unfold his
to
this end.
"The
gradual occupation of the hostile
territory
means of forts and Cossack settlements would, of

little
by
little,
by
itself,
bring about the exhaustion of the moun-
who would be cramped
movements and
deprived of the means of carrying out their raids. But this
alone would take too long, thirty years, and another means
taineers,
is at
in their
The enemy is absolutely dependent on his crops

means of sustaining life. Let the standing corn be
hand.
for the
1
Such regiments were raised by Paskievitch in Transcaucasia, and rendered
valuable service in the Persian and Turkish wars of 1826-1829.
'
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
viii.
145.
122
destroyed each autumn as
would be starved
it
into submission.
in five years they
and
ripens,
In order to carry out
columns must be formed, consisting each of

6000 infantry, 1000 Cossacks, 24 guns, and 2 companies
this plan, six
of pioneers, besides a spare park, and 500 carts for pro-
and
visions
for
the
carriage
of the
These columns to be formed each
sick
year,
and wounded.
and never to open
a campaign except at their full strength, for the resistance
would be very obstinate
the troops occupying the forts,
and even some unfortified places, should not form part of

the columns, which, as a rule,
and
therefore
military
must be commanded by men of
ing
might be very
we may take
no amount
otherwise
capacity,
would be of any good

losses
should act independently,
the
of
sufficient
instructions
gain would be small, and the
severe."
With which words
of warn-
leave for the present of Veliameenoff,
whose death in 1838,
at the comparatively early age
of
him of the chance of proving in person

his views. 1
Had he lived, he would have
forty-nine, deprived
the correctness of
had
to
modify his opinions and plans in some respects
but
Eussia would doubtless have been spared many a disaster,

and the war would probably have ended much sooner than
it
did.
1
Raiding expeditions, systematically carried out on the lines laid down
by Veliameenoff, might, in conjunction with the further measures he suggested, have proved successful. As it was, they did little but exasperate the
"Tchetchens, and were finally abandoned after Bariatinsky's failure in 1852.
CHAPTEE
VIII
1819
Building of Vnezapnaya Native revolt in Karakaitagh Russian defeat

Russian successes Large increase of the Russian army Organisation
of the Caucasian infantry regiment
Madatoff Submission of Tabassaran,
Karakaitagh, Shekeen, Avaria Yerm61offs cruelty
The Akousheens
beaten
Grozny
built,
opposite
Yermoloff's next step, in 1819, was to erect
a similar fortress, Vnezapnaya

east,
the aoul
"Fort
Surprise"
farther
(Enderee) on the
of Andreyevo
Aktash, near the eastern border of Tchetchnia, connecting

the two by a chain of smaller forts.
Vnezapnaya, at the
foot of the Salatau range, barred the
way
tribes of central
Bournaya, built a
(April 1821) on the rocks over-
little later
hanging Tarkou, completed the chain of

Vladikavkaz to the Caspian.
Meantime
there
had been
known
of
of Yermoloff's
and south-east.
The
rulers
major-general in the Eussian service with a
pension of Es. 5000

Tabassaran,
The building
alarmed not only the Tchetchens, but
their neighbours to the south
from
serious trouble in Daghestan,
Grozny, together with what was

further intentions,
fortified posts
presaging the long struggle to come.
of Avaria
to the warlike
Daghestan and covered the Koumuik plain
and
of
of
Mekhtoulee, of Karakaitagh, of
Kazi-Koumoukh, together with the
An interesting description of the building of Vnezapnaya, of the surrounding conditions, and of Yerm61ofFs character and way of living, will be found
in the "Narrative of Don Juan van Ualen's Imprisonment in the Dungeons
of the Inquisition," &c. (vol. ii. chap, viii.), one of the best of the early books
of travel and adventure in the Caucasus. The Spanish edition omits the whole
of the Russian part.
1
124
powerful community of Akousha, understood clearly the
danger that threatened them.
and determined
to take
common
They conferred
together,
action in defence of their
Thus from the very beginning YermolofFs
interests.
laid the foundation of that union, perfected later
which alone made native resistance
Shamil,
to
policy
on by
Russia
and the
Muridism was unborn
flames of patriotism and religious fervour, which were to
effectual.
But
as
yet
eventuate in so vast a conflagration, burnt low.
Yermoloff,
informed of what was taking place, ordered Colonel Pestel

with two battalions and some native cavalry to occupy Karakaitagh, and himself on the 25th October 1818 set out from
Grozny with
5 battalions,
300 Cossacks, and 14 guns
for
campaign
in
Mekhtoulee, this being the
first
Russian
mountain Daghestan, as distinguished from the eastern

declivities,
and the narrow
strip of flat
land forming the
Caspian coast.
Pestel, chosen for his
command by Yerm61off
proved unworthy of his confidence.
himself,
Against orders he
advanced to Bashli, chief town of Karakaitagh, was there

surrounded by the allies in vast numbers, and attacked in
the narrow streets, where artillery could not operate.
It
was thanks only to the valour and ability of Colonel

Meeshtchenko and others that, with a loss of 12 officers
and 500 men, the Russians secured their retreat to Derbend.
All Daghestan went wild with joy; and in distant Tabriz
Abbas
Mirza
celebrated
the victory with
feasting
and
cannon-fire.
The triumph, however, was of short duration. Yerm61off

moved by way of Tarkou on Mekhtoulee, sacked Paraoul,
the capital, which was found abandoned, and stormed Djen-
The ruler fled, in company with Seyid Effendi,

a learned Mussulman teacher, who had taken a leading
goutai.

part in stirring
up the
125
At
and the Avar Khan.
conflict,
the same time Bashli, at YermolofFs command, was retaken
and destroyed by Meeshtchenko, who forced
The people of Mekhtoulee made

the success
khanate was abolished
their
the
of the Russians, on
both
Pestel's hand.
submission
sides, complete.
Yermoloff admitted frankly, even cynically, the part
The
played by the artillery in this short campaign.
natives
had none, nor had they ever heard the sound of cannon.
"Such a convincing proof

wrote, " to give
me
of our rights could not
the advantage.
fail,"
he
It is very interesting
means on the heart

was to be possessed of
to see the first effect of this innocent
how
of man, and I learnt
when unable
the one
useful
all at
it
once to conquer the other." 1
Such cynicism was habitual with him
but to do justice to
the contradictory nature of this remarkable man,

to
it is
right
add the following instance of his behaviour on the same
Going the round of the camp
occasion.
and wrapped
in his cloak,
at night, alone
Yermdloff overheard, without
being noticed, the strictures passed by the soldiery on his

apparently over-cautious movements.
ticular,
most
One
officer in par-
Captain Gognieff, abused him in the coarsest and
ribald
terms.
Next day when, thanks
entirely to
key
of
little loss,
he
YermolofFs forethought, a dangerous ridge, the

the enemy's position, had been taken with
addressed his astonished detractor as follows
Gognieff
You, with your company, were the
breastworks
Vladeemir.
St.
" Thanks,
first
over the
congratulate you on winning the Cross of
But have a
care,
my friend,
not to abuse
me
again as you did last night."
Yerm6loff retired to the Line, postponing his next advance

1
See Yerm61ofPs letter of 10th February 1819 to Davueedoff, the famous

Pog6din, p. 297.
poet-partisan
126
to the following year,
and busied himself with the increase
of the army of occupation.
In April 1819, at his request, the Emperor agreed to the
army
following establishment for the Georgian
corps,
i.e.
for the regular troops in the Caucasus, not including the
Cossacks
that
is,
"
The number of regiments
to
remain as before,
8 infantry, 4 chasseurs, 2 grenadier,
regiment, 15 in
to be raised to
Each of
all.
and
carbineer
these regiments I order to
3900 men, meaning 300 non-commissioned
Each battalion will consist of

100 non-commissioned officers and 1200 men. If with this
number of men you consider it necessary to increase the
officers,
and 3600
complement of
privates.
you
officers,
are permitted to
add one
for
each company, which means 12 additional
officers for
regiment; the already existing number of
staff-officers
to
each regiment
" In this
always
certainly,
efficients."
The
way
each
7
I consider sufficient.
the army corps
more
arms
under
have
entrusted to you
than
can,
50,000
additional 26,000
men
required to carry out this
order were sent in fully-formed regiments armed with a
new
was intended that the cadres of these regiments

should return to Russia after filling up the ranks of the
Georgian army corps, but some of them remained per-
musket.
It
manently in the Caucasus.
The
strength of several of these Caucasian regiments was
raised, a
few years
later, to five battalions, i.e.
more than
six thousand officers and men. Such were the Apsheron,

Koureen, Kabardan, Shirvan, Navagheen, and one or
two more, which served throughout the coming war and
achieved
undying fame
Their organisation
is
on
many
hard-fought
worthy of note, as
1
Akti,
vi.
i.
487.
it
field.
had much
to
127
do with the subjugation of the Caucasus, and was unlike
known
anything
Western Europe
to
modern
in
times,
at least.
"
was
The fundamental
to
establish
idea (Yerm61offs or Veliameenoffs)
the
staff-quarters
of
these
permanent
regiments of the Caucasus at points of strategic importance,

protected by fortifications, the defence of which was to be
entrusted
to
the married
who were
companies,
also
to
undertake, develop, and steadily improve the economy," in

its
original sense of housekeeping, " of the
a matter of
much import
when campaigning.
or
whole regiment,
to the soldier's welfare, especially
At the same
time, in the event of
war
an alarm of any kind, the country being but newly
subjugated, and the people not yet to be trusted, these

places would serve as rallying-points under the protection
who were
of the said married
companies,
permanent
and might be expected
them
garrison,
to
to the utmost as being their very house
All these
staff-quarters
soldiers themselves.
It
were founded
and
form their
defend
to
and home.
by the
built
was they who cut down the
and hauled the timber from the nearest mountains

quarried the stone, and
made
the bricks and cement
were their own carpenters, and masons, and painters.

soldier of the
trees
who
who
The
Caucasus was a labourer as well as a fighting
man, and the construction of huge buildings and the erection of whole staff-quarters was effected by him at an
incredibly small cost."
Another writer (M. Kazbek) says

the Caucasus in the
'thirties
"
The regiment
was not only a
but an independent administrative
unit,
of
fighting force,
having in
itself all
that was necessary for service, for permanent existence, and
'economy' (including
1
clothing, commissariat, &c).
Potto,
ii.
p. 638.
Each
128
company formed
in turn a small but highly developed unit
of 300 men, with
its
own
economy,' owning sometimes
'
4 troikas (threes) of horses, 4 pairs of bullocks, and having
25
tailors
and bootmakers
The
in its ranks.
such a system arose from the conditions of

at the time.
left to
traders
company
take care of
had
without
itself
obtaining
life
up
of soldiers shut
necessity for
in a fort
The Govern-
perforce to be self-contained.
ment gave only the raw material of food and
dress, besides
money, with which nothing could be purchased.
In these
circumstances, the staff-quarters became, in point of

military colonies, the married
and practising regimental
and
markets, craftsmen, or
fact,
men inhabiting sort of suburbs,
housekeeping on a large scale.

was the beginning of military colonisation, and
was adopted at the time not as a means of civilisation, but
In truth
'
'
it
out of financial considerations."
To
this it
must be added that those were days of long
service, twenty-five years,
with the colours
much
and often enough men remained
longer, so that father
seen fighting side by side.
The
result
and son might be
was that the regiment
became one huge family or clan, in which the feeling of

esprit de corps reached an extraordinary development, and
this fact, coupled
with continual fighting, made these famous
regiments a military force of the very highest
The Cossacks
class.
of the Line at this time or soon after
formed nine regiments of about 15,000
officers
and men,
without counting the reserves.
In the summer of 1819 the
allies,
who had
recovered
their courage during the winter, gathered their forces to
attack the Russians both north and south.
Communica-
In the above brief description points of resemblance to the Roman legions

A comparison between the Terek and Kouban in the
first half of the nineteenth century and some of the Roman frontiers at the
dawn of Christianity would possibly prove of very great interest.
1
are sufficiently obvious.

Derbend were broken
tions with
129
the Kioureen khanate,
Kouba, threatened.
had been sent back to Russia in
and in his place Yerm61off, better inspired this time,
Pestel, the incompetent,

disgrace,
chose Major-General Madatoff, a native of Karabagh,
had distinguished himself in the Napoleonic wars.

vitch,
him
who
who
Paskie-
never spared any of Yerm61off s men, stigmatised
But Madatoff
was a beau sabreur and something more, and to him
Yermdloff owed more of his success than to any one save
afterwards as a mere cavalry leader.
Veliameenoff. 1
as
no Russian
Himself a
native,
the
native
could,
mind and
languages was an
while his knowledge of local

advantage.
to raise
It
was these
Madatoff understood,
character,
additional
qualifications that enabled
and organise a large body of native
cavalry,
him
which
proved of inestimable service in the ensuing campaigns.
But even with
this
addition,
Madatoff's force, com-
prising but 2 battalions of infantry,
300 Cossacks, 6
field
and 2 horse artillery guns, was so weak, that Yermdloff

gave
strict
orders to do
Madatoff, however, whose ideas of subordina-
Tabassaran.
tion were
no more than keep watch on
somewhat
loose,
seeing his opportunity,
made
a dash with part of his troops into the heart of that

province, took
completely.
to the Tsar.
the
enemy by
surprise,
and routed them
Tabassaran submitted and swore allegiance

Yermdloff,
magnanimous
as usual,
his lieutenant unstinted praise, but repeated
in
still
results.
more
positive
terms
awarded
caution
his
again, however, with like
Madatoff retiring to Derbend, and turning his
attention to Karakaitagh, in October
marched on Bashli,
retook that town, and followed up this feat by capturing

1 "
If I could rely on each of my other lieutenants as on you, my position
would not be so difficult." Yerm61off to Madatoff, 22nd August 1819
Pog6din, p. 285.
I
130
Yanghi-kent, the residence of the outsmi.

over the mountains to Akousha;
The
his subjects
latter fled
renounced
him, and, like their neighbours, took the oath of allegiance

to Russia.
While these events were taking place the Khan of

Shekeen, who had followed Madatoff in the field, died,
leaving no direct heir. At YermtflofPs orders Noukha,
the capital, was at once occupied by his troops, and the
khanate proclaimed a Russian province (29th August 1819).
At the end of August the Avar Khan (Akhmet), collecting 6000 men, made his appearance at Vnezapnaya, but was
routed by Yermoloff with great loss. Akhmet was then
deposed and his khanate handed over to his illegitimate
son, Sourkhai,
who
ruled
it
until 1828.
About this time, while Vnezapnaya was building, a

number of troop horses were driven off by the Tchetchens,
and Yermdloff, finding that the guilty parties belonged
to a clan which had long been established on the Koumik
steppe, determined to punish them for their raid and, at
the same time, rid the lowlands of their presence once
for all.
To attain this end he deemed it necessary to
read them such a bloody lesson as would drive them to
a voluntary abandonment of their existing settlements,
and chose Dadi-Yourt, a rich and populous aoul on the
banks of the Terek, as the scene of his experiment. The
inhabitants were
reputed robbers
all,
but so skilled in
covering the traces of their nefarious proceedings that
was seldom possible to prove
their guilt.
it
General Sisdyeff
was ordered to make a secret approach, surround the

and summon the population to retire forthwith
In case of refusal and nothing
to beyond the Soundja.
village,
else could
be expected
and give no
quarter.
he was
to take the place
by assault

"
On
131
the 15th September, at dawn, Sisoyeff drew near.
Six companies of the Kabarda regiment and 700 Cossacks,
with six guns, were drawn up in battle array, waiting for
The
an answer.
villagers refused to accept the proffered
and the infantry
conditions,
The Tchetchens on
and a
soldiers
were ordered to attack.
their side prepared to defend themselves,
desperate, sanguinary struggle began, such as the
Russian troops had never up
then experienced in the
till
Each house, surrounded by a high stone

wall, and forming a kind of petty fortress, had first to be
battered by the artillery and then taken by assault. The
soldiers dragged the guns about by hand from one house
Caucasus.
another,
to
and put them in position under a heavy
point-blank musketry
fire,
large
numbers of the gunners
But their places were taken

and Cossacks, and the firing maintained.
being killed or wounded.
by linesmen
No
sooner was even the smallest breach effected than the
and then, in the dark, close

houses, a bloody and viewless fight took place between
bayonets on one side and kindjals on the other. Not a
dashed through
soldiers
it,
single soldier once entangled in the labyrinth of houses
could hope to retreat

attacked for the
first
had had no time
tered
time in a village from which they
remove their
The
families.
exaspe-
and children under the eyes of the

many of the women threw themselves on the
their wives
;
knife
in
hand,
or
in
despair
leaped
burning buildings and perished in the flames.
on both sides grew rapidly.

to
who were
of the natives, seeing defeat to be inevitable, slaugh-
soldiers
latter
the Tchetchens,
on either side increased with every fresh victim.
ration
Some
to
still less
Finally
it
into
The
the
losses
was necessary
dismount the greater part of the Cossacks and send
them
to
the
aid
of the Kabarda
men, and even then
132
the
terrible
slaughter was prolonged for
The aoul was only captured
hours.
at last,
some
mortal
when
of the
men
numerous inhabitants of Dadi-Yourt only fourteen
remained alive, and these sorely wounded. One hundred
and forty women and children were taken prisoners, spared
by the soldiers when all defence was at an end and they
Many of the women, and even some
cried for mercy.
of the children, were wounded but double the number
;
had been
soldiers took a rich booty,
The
killed or burnt.
mainly by brigandage and

no occasion of harrying the Russian settlements, were
the villagers,
for
lost
who
The aoul was,
rich.
destroyed to
its
lived
in the
foundations."
literal
sense of the words,
Such were Yermoloff's methods;
and
it
cannot be
denied that, as in the present case, they were immediThe remaining villages of the clan were
ately effective.
the inhabitants
deserted,
seeking
refuge
in
Tchetchnia
But they took a bloody revenge during the next
proper.
thirty years,
and
it
is
strange that Russian writers, so
fail to see any connection between the vaunted "

loff system " and the Murid war.
far,
Yerm6-
was now the turn of AkousM, and against that

warlike and powerful confederation the commander-inIt
in November, moved in person with nine

and many guns, Madatoff from Karakaitagh
early
chief,
battalions
2
being ordered up in support.
Crossing the frontier of
Akousha, Yermdloff found farther progress barred by a

lofty
ridge
notables
1
occupied
of the
Potto, vol. II.
i.
in
by the enemy.
The
came into camp with the
strength
confederation
pp. 108-9.
Yermoloff in his report to the Emperor of the 12th February 1819, asking
urgently for three more regiments of infantry and two companies of light
artillery, declared that the Akoushintsi were "the cause of all the trouble":
2
Akti,
vi.
i.
p. 486.

ostensible object of preventing hostilities.
133
They were well
received, treated with every hospitality, while of military
They
action not a word was said.
however,
rejected,
according to the Eussians, the most moderate terms, and
Yermoloff saw that force alone would bring about thensubmission.
But
heavy
cessful, involve
in-chief
to storm the ridge would, even if sucloss,
had no mind
be avoided.
such as the Russian commander-
to suffer if
path existed
it
could by any means
by which the seemingly
impregnable position held by the Akoushintsi could be

turned, if only they could be taken by surprise.
Yermoloff
gave orders to receive the elders with considerable politeness,
feast
them
generously, display for their benefit all
the pearls of Oriental eloquence, but not to let
home
before midnight.
late at night, they at
and recounted
their
So
done.
so
said,
them go
Returning
once called a djamat or council,
They
impressions.
stated that the
Russian troops were few in number, the soldiers worn

out, and, generally speaking, in such a condition that
would
hardly be dignified to use arms
against
it
them.
This comforting news spread rapidly, and the Akoushintsi,

secure
in their power,
went
quietly to sleep without
thought of what waited them on the morrow.
Yet that
morrow had already begun.

No sooner had the elders left the camp than the
terrible
troops
silence
stood noiselessly to arms, and cautiously and in
moved towards
eight versts
off.
It
the
enemy's
position,
was a moonlight night and very
but the advance was unobserved by the

fires
seven or
foe,
clear
whose camp-
were dying down when the whole of the Russian
detachment arrived within gun-fire of their entrenchments.

In the distance was visible the large village of Lavashee,
1
Potto, vol. II.
ii.
p. 257.
134
in front of
The
left
of
a series
it
entrenched
steep
acclivities.
a fortified mound, the
flank ended in
right
abutted on an abyss, in the bottom of which ran the

little river
Manass.
Through
chasm
this
Madatoff led his troops, forded the
at night Prince
and, by the
river,
path discovered by the Cossacks, mounted the opposite
whence
ridge,
fire
could be opened along the whole of
the enemy's position.
The road
to
Akousha and even
communications with the village of Lavashee were cut

off.
Meantime the main
division,
under Yermoloff, de-
ployed in front of the enemy, having on

native
cavalry of
the
its
Shamkhal, recruited
right the
by him
in
Tarkou and Mekhtoulee for reasons of a purely political

" I have absolutely no need of these scouncharacter.
drels," wrote Yermoloff, " but had them collected in order
sow enmity between them and the Akoushintsi and

bring about dissensions that might be useful in future."
to
On
the
19th December was
fought the
battle
of
Lavashee, of which the issue, considering the force of

the Kussians and the success of their flanking movement,
could never be in doubt.
The Akoushintsi were
defeated and Lavashee taken.
Yermoloff praises these
and
people for their morality, good-nature,

attributes
their
industry,
superiority over their neighbours
them idleness was a vice.

ness has already made its appearance
"
But
in
the
fact that with
strong drink," for which of course they
Kussian "
civilisation."
totally
had
and
to the
dissolute-
wake
to
of
thank
Akoushd,, the chief village, was
found abandoned, and the confederation, which had fed

its
pride for three-quarters of a century
of Nadir Shah's defeat,
bowed
to the
on the memory
Kussian yoke, and
kept faith with the conqueror for some seven years.
CHAPTER IX
1820-1825
Kazi-Koumoukh conquered
Shirvdn absorbed
War between Persia and
Turkey Annexation of Karabagh
Devastation of Kabarda
Ammalat
Bek Growth of Muridism Gr^koff
Tohetehen rising Beiboulat
Ameer-Hadji-Yourt destroyed
of Grekoff and Lissanievitch
Not
besieged Assassination
Gherzel
Aoul
only in the Caucasus, but throughout Russia,
above
all,
in distant St. Petersburg, this rapid series of
triumphant campaigns had an overpowering

moloff's
name was on
all
men's
deed, in the higher ranks of the
enemies, in-
army and
at Court, but
to
support
now
completely justified
so
who,
one
his
to
confidence
all
and
If any misgivings were felt as to the ultimate
favour.
result
Yerm61offs heroic
lips,
always well disposed towards him, was
I.,
more than ever impelled

appearance,
Yer-
effect.
He had many
figure filled all men's eyes.
Alexander
and,
of the Persian mission
while,
in
regard
to
the
they
Caucasus
were as
proper,
yet
faint,
Yermoloff's
and actions seemed to presage unqualified and

permanent success. One by one the khanates and other
policy
independent States, by policy or by arms,
were
Even
brought within the fold of the empire.
being
internal
Daghestan, hitherto inaccessible, was apparently no more

able
to
resist
territories.
passes;
and
the might of
Russian bayonets
Russian
defiles.
cannon
Russia
than
glittered
reverberated
the
outlying
on the mountain
in
the
valleys
Victory followed victory, and the conquered
peoples not only
bowed
their necks to
the yoke, but, in
136
many
cases,
recalcitrant
rendered
willing
service
the
against
still
tribesmen, fighting gallantly in the ranks of
the Infidel invader.
What was
m61off threatened to
make
less confident of success in
left
short
of Daghestan, Yer-
work
of; nor
was he
Tchetchnia and the west.
It
abundantly evident that to him the complete and per-
is
manent conquest of the Caucasus was a matter of a few

short years at most, so overweening was his belief in
own power and
his
genius, so blind his ignorance of the
now were
latent forces that even
gathering head against
him, gaining strength, indeed, with every seeming success

of his vaunted policy, every step in advance of his vic-
The mighty
torious armies.
edifice
he was rearing had
foundations in the sand, and before long was to come
its
tumbling about
its builder's ears.
Meantime, however, as
far as could be seen, all
There was peace with Turkey and Persia
went
Georgia
Shekeen had been annexed without fighting
Grozny, Vnezapnaya, and the intermediate forts, built to
well.
was quiet
contain the Tchetchens
Mekhtoulee, Tabassaran, Kaitagh,

Akousha, Avaria, had submitted to force of arms. It was
now
the turn
Madatoff,
though
of Kazi
exceeding,
not,
this
as
time,
portant khanate to the

that lasted only
Koumoukh,
usual,
and in June 1820
Yermoloff's
expectations,
his
instructions,
list
of conquests in a campaign
added
this
im-
two weeks. 1
Madatoff, starting from Shirvan, sent his cavalry, consisting of one sotnia of Cossacks and L000 native
horse-
men, round by the sea-coast provinces, while the infantry

and artillery five battalions with fourteen guns under
his own command, marched straight to the objective
over
Of this campaign Van Halen has
op. cit, vol.
ii.
chap. xix.
left
a very interesting description:

the main chain of the Caucasus, a remarkable
137
feat,
un-
equalled at that time in the annals of Caucasian warfare.
Descending into Kouba, he entered the capital of that

name, where he was joined by Asian Khan, the loyal
ruler of Kioureen,
with 800 native
cavalry;
con-
and,
tinuing his march, traversed that country, and on the 11th
June, at Tchirag, crossed the frontier of Kazi-Koumoukh.
The enemy were gathered
to the
number of 20,000 near
Khosrek, and defended themselves

beaten in the
The khan, Sourkhai,
storm.
gallantly,
were
but
which Khosrek was taken by
after
field,
fled
to
his
capital,
Kou-
moukh, but the inhabitants shut the gates against him,

and, all opposition having ceased, Madatoff's little army
marched in. Asian was solemnly invested, and, in the
name of the Tsar, proclaimed Khan of Kazi-Koumoukh;
he, on his part, undertaking to guard his frontiers and
march his troops whither the Russian authorities might
bid him;
to allow
the
through his dominions
construction
to
of forts
and roads
pay a yearly tribute of Rs. 3000
and to appoint a separate naib to govern Kioureen under

him.
The Russians
left
Koumoukh on
the 19th June, and
on the return journey received the voluntary submission

of the free
community of Koubatchee, a remarkable, people
dwelling 5000 feet above the Caspian in the mountains of
Kaitagh, and famous throughout the Caucasus as workers

in
metal,
more
especially
swords and daggers, notable
as
makers of guns,
less,
pistols,
perhaps, for their excel-
lence as weapons than for their artistic workmanship.
Yermoloff thanked Madatoff once more for his brilliant

conduct of yet another campaign,
and reported
to
the
Emperor that " the subjugation of Daghestan, begun last

year,
is
now
complete
and
this country, proud, warlike,
138
and hitherto unconquered, has fallen at the sacred

of your Imperial Majesty."
western
strip of
As
a matter of
fact,
feet
the inner
Daghestan, more remote and inaccessible
even than Kazi-Koumoukh, remained untouched, and many

communities knew the Russians only by name but by
;
and richer portion of the country had now

sworn allegiance to Russia, and Yermoloff felt justified
far the larger
in disregarding the little that remained.
In
this
he was
wrong, as the sequence proved; but he could hardly be

expected to realise that such sledge-hammer blows were
but forging the weapons wherewith certain
whose very names were
men
of Avaria,
unknown, would, within a

few years, destroy the greater part of his work, and thereafter defy the power of Russia for nearly half a century.
It is a most pregnant fact that Yerm61off prepared the
way
for
Shamil as
surely as that
final success of Russia.
aroused that
fierce
which alone made
as yet
great leader for the
The one by
his ruthless
methods
spirit of
fanaticism and independence
political
union possible amongst the
turbulent tribesmen of Daghestan and Tchetchnia.

other, the very incarnation of that spirit,
no
less ruthless,
and
for freedom,
and more
of a somewhat milder
the yoke
generation
drawn from such
the study of military history

to
its
of
Russians.
facts as these
It is not,
It
is
soldier are of little
in the long run, the battles
sieges that signify, but the
the
that give
highest value, compared
which the deductions of the mere
importance.
discipline,
end of their long and heroic struggle
to accept
civilised
lessons to be
by a despotism
rendered them amenable to
willing, at the
The
permanent
effect
and
on the human
race of the changes they help to bring about.
Yermoloff had, to use his

sion
of the
own
words, obtained posses-
Shekeen khanate ".by interpreting
treaties

as
Mussulmans
interpret the
Koran, that
He was now
circumstances."
139
according to
is,
acquire Shirvan by his
to
"understanding of the khan's character."
Moustafa, an
old man, " whose natural timidity had been intensified by
many
hypochondria," having lived through

vicissitudes
troubles
and
of fortune, had acquired a profound distrust
Count Zouboff
of the Russians.
in 1796
had transferred
the throne of Shirvan to his cousin, Kasim, but no sooner
had the Russians

sion,
Moustafa recovered posses-
retired than
and retained
his independence until the fall of
and conquest of Karabagh
Gandja
He had
in Tsitsianoff's time.
then submitted to Russian suzerainty, but foreseeing, as

the fate in store for him,
Yermtfloff's policy developed,
endeavoured in a feeble way to avert
was precipitated by Colonel
The
it.
catastrophe
Pestel's dubious
conduct in
showing friendly deference to the fugitive Kasim.
became
tafa's suspicions
allay them.
He
at
certainties;
first
Mous-
no assurances could
determined on resistance, and
gathered his armed forces, such as they were
but when
Yermoloff seized the occasion to remonstrate and threaten

with his habitual violence, the old khan's courage evapo-
and abandoning even his wives and children, he
rated,
fled to
Persia.
On
the 30th August
1820 Shirvan was
proclaimed a Russian province.
So the process of absorption went on, and with such

unvarying success that the record
and even wearisome.

it
But the
cannot well be omitted
what
is
to
come.
tioned, overhanging
if
may seem monotonous
tale is nearly complete,
we would
and
rightly understand
Bournaya, the fortress already men-
Tarkou where the northern mountains
break on the Caspian, was built in 1821 by Veliameenoff,
and
its
construction so alarmed the natives that a short
campaign was necessary
to " quiet " them.
Aimiakee was
140
and Akhmet, Khan of Avaria, who had taken

the lead in the disturbances, wounded.
During the whole of the year 1821 Yerm61off was absent
destroyed,
from the Caucasus, in European Eussia or at Laibach,
where the seemingly
command won him
brilliant
the
warm
success
of his four years'
personal commendation of
his Imperial Master.
Peace reigned throughout the Caucasus, or what counted

as peace in those regions,
little felt, for
and Yermoloff's absence was
the reins of government were in the strong
hands of Veliameenoff.
unlooked-for hostilities
But beyond the Kussian border

compelled the attention of more
than one European Power.

It
were
perhaps, to inquire
idle,
differences of
what
effect
Muhammadans have had on
the religious
the history of
the world, but there can be no doubt that the hatred and
bitterness cherished
by the followers of Ali against the
Sunnites have at various times exerted a very considerable
on the fortunes of Christian and Mussulman
influence
alike.
Racial difference would, in any case, have barred
a condition of permanent alliance or friendship between
Turk and
Persian.
Racial difference, in
all
probability,
lay at the very root of their religious antagonisms.
the
latter,
But
renewed and strengthened from year to year
through the centuries by the poignant ceremonies com-
memorating the deaths of Hassan and Husayn, rendered

difficult
even
such
temporary co-operation
as
political
expediency must otherwise from time to time have determined. Russia's earliest successes in Transcaucasia were
due to the quarrels between Persian and Afghan, Turk

and Persian nor ever once did the Muhammadan Powers
;
make any
invader.
common
moment they
serious effort in
When
for a
against the northern
did combine,
it
was
141
with no such sincerity as alone could promise any large
measure of
wars
success, and, in fact, nearly all Russia's
with Persia and Turkey were waged against one or other
Power
singly.
On
the rare occasions when, as in 1808-9,
she fought both at once,
it
was not
for
there any effective co-operation against her. 1
nor was
long,
Towards the
end of the sixteenth century the Shah offered the provinces of
Baku and Derbend
vitch, in return for
to the
Tsar, Feodor Ivano-
Russian aid against the Turk, but as
the latter was already in possession, and not easily to be

ousted,
nothing came of
it,
and Shah Abbas afterwards
recovered these territories for Persia.
sought Peter's help against
Husayn
Mahmoud, the Afghan. When,
Later, Sultan
on the contrary, Russia's southern neighbours threatened to

combine against her, she found it easy, as a rule, to keep
them apart, so that each might be dealt with in turn and

now, in 1821, her intriguing agent, Mazardvitch, against
;
the
will,
indeed,
of the Tsar, succeeded, thanks to mis-
placed zeal, in bringing about an armed conflict between

Persia
and Turkey.
Yermoloff was away, and Mazardvitch, meantime,
re-
ceived his instructions from far-off St. Petersburg only,

his information sometimes from nearer sources.
of the strained relations between Russia
He knew
and Turkey, and
learning through a sure channel that the Tsar had with-
drawn
his ambassador
from Constantinople, he concluded,
naturally enough, that a declaration of
\mr would speedily
Monteith declares that " the only means of inducing them to act effeccommon cause would be to assign different lines of attack to
their armies.
The rehearsal of the Muhammadan prayers would suffice to set
two armies fighting. When I served with the Persian army, at a time when
the Persians and Turks were both at war with Russia, it was always found
necessary that the two encampments should be at some distance from each
other, and even that was not always sufficient to prevent quarrels and blood1
tually in a
shed
" op. eit., p. 155.
142
follow.
In these circumstances, thinking to render his
country a signal service, he pushed Abbas Mirza into war
with the Turk.
That
vainglory, with an
men, with
artillery
prince, young, ambitious,
and
full of
by Englishsupplied and served by them, was only
army
drilled
and
officered
too willing to seize the opportunity to extend his dominions
and win fame and
treasure at the expense of his western
neighbours, who, expecting nothing
unprepared.
The
less,
were taken quite
by
British officers were forbidden
country's representative to cross the frontier,
and withdrew
from Abbas Mirza's camp covered with contumely
Pasha of Moush alone made any show of
their
but the
resistance,
and
the provinces of Bayazid and Kars were soon overrun, and

to a great extent devastated.
Now, a
conflict
between Persia and Turkey would only
have suited Russia, at this time, in the event of her declaring

far
war against the
latter
Power
but Alexander
I.,
so
from being desirous of such a contingency, was bent
on averting
it
if possible.
The withdrawal
of his ambas-
sador was meant as a warning, and as such had the desired

effect.
The Porte gave way, the peace was not broken.
Meantime, Abbas Mirza's proceedings came singularly

ct
propos, and seriously embarrassed the Court of
burg, which hastened to instruct
trial
St. Peters-
agents accordingly.
its
England, however, had already intervened with decisive
Her emissary found
way
Abbas Mirza's camp,

and succeeded in persuading the latter that Russia was not
in a position to declare war against Turkey without the
consent of the other European Powers, who in this matter
effect.
his
were at one with England. 2
The prospect of
Turkey single-handed, against the

1
to
will of both
Mazar6vitch to Yermoloff, 7th November 1821 Akti, vi. ii. 251.

Mazar6viteh to Yerm61off, 11th October 1821 Akti, vi. ii. 250.
:
fighting
England

and Russia, alarmed the Persian
prince, or, at least, his
and the Persian army retired to
advisers,
143
own
its
side
Meantime, Abbas Mirza's elder brother,
of the border.
Mahmed (who
died
soon
after),
for once
agreement
in
with him, sacked some villages in the neighbourhood of
Bagdad, and fought an inconsiderable engagement with the
Turks; nor was peace concluded
summer
The
of 1823, but there

British
Erzeroum) until the
(at
was no more
fighting.
Government, on the information of
its
representative, Willock, complained through Prince Lieven
of Mazarovitch's conduct, and Alexander
I.,
while professing
disbelief in the accusations brought against him, wrote to
Yermoloff,
who had meantime
that
effect
it
returned to
would be as well
to
make some
who had much reason to be

made a vigorous though far from
and the matter was allowed
own
vitch's
Persians,
to drop.
the
inquiry.
grateful to Mazar6-
Yermoloff,
vitch,
to
Tiflis,
convincing defence,
But we have Mazaro-
naive admission that he had egged on the
and there can be
little
doubt that he was mainly
3
responsible for the outbreak of hostilities.
Of Yermoloff s
England we have more

correspondence at this period; and
prejudice against
than one proof in his
on the 9th November 1821 he wrote to Nesselrode in regard

to English efforts to mollify
Turks
Abbas Mirza's rage against the
"Of course Abbas Mirza, a Muhammadan
ruler,
could not have in view to avenge the followers of Christ

(the pretended object of the war), nor need one doubt that
in the calculations of the British
Government commercial
advantages outweigh the blood of slaughtered Christians."
The year 1822

1
*
3
is chiefly
memorable
for the transference
Nesselrode to Yerm61off, 10th March 1822: Akti, vi.

Yermoloff to Nesselrode, 27th March 1822 Akti, vi.
Mazarovitch to Yerm61off, 11th October 1821 Akti,
:
Akti,
vi.
ii.
252.
ii.
ii.
vi.
258.
259.
ii.
250.
144
of the central part of the Line to the

that
is,
Kabardan
into the
left
bank of the Terek,
country, followed
by local
dis-
turbances and the inevitable punitive expedition, in the

course
which
of
Yermdloff " ruined and dispersed
all
Kabarda, so that at the present time not more than 10,000
them remain," 1 and
for the annexation of
Karabagh,
or Shousha, that naturally rich province, ruined
by misrule
of
and constant warfare,

policy in
much
falling
an easy prey
to Yermdloff
the same way as Shirvan.
quarrel
between the khan and a pretender led to threats on the

part of Russia.
The khan took alarm and
fled
his
enemy
and towards the end of 1822 the dominions of

the Tsar were by mere proclamation enriched by one more
province.
Of all the khanates, Talish, the most distant,
was
exiled,
alone remained independent, for the reason that
its rulers
were implacably hostile to Persia.
The following year was troubled by a
series of intrigues
leading to the treacherous murder of Colonel Verkhdvsky
by Ammalat Bek, nephew of the Shamkhal, whose reward
was
to be the
daughter of
prisoner,
hand
of the beautiful Princess Saltanette,
Akhmet Khan. Ammalat, who, though
a State
had acquired the complete confidence and friend-
ship of Verkhdvsky, killed
him while out
riding,
and
fled to
Khounzakh, the capital of Avaria, but only to find that his

crime had been not less vain than cruel. The khan was dead,
and his widow spurned the unhappy lover from her
door.
Prince Shakhovskoi's report to Baron Rosen, 24th November 1834 Akti,

The proud and once powerful Kabardans had been wofully ravaged
by the plague, which broke out early in the nineteenth century and lasted
fourteen years. They were treated by Yerm61ofF with gross cruelty and
:
viii.
635.
injustice.
5
BestouzhefPs (Marlinsky's) novel, based upon this romantic episode,

was for many years a favourite with Russian readers. It has quite recently
been published in an English translation from the French version of Dumas,
the elder, under the title of " The Snow on Shah Dagh and Ammalat Bek,"
London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd. (no date).

Ammalat found many
thought necessary
to
sympathisers, and again
145
it
was
send an expedition against the tur-
bulent tribes dwelling between the Shamkhalate and Avaria.
Major-General Krabbe destroyed Karanai, but was repulsed

from Erpelee (30th July 1823), and retired to Kafirkoumuik, leaving Colonel Yevremoff in command. The
was there attacked by a strong force of the enemy,

but routed them completely with a loss of 3 officers
and 45 men on the Kussian side. YermdlofF, disquieted,
latter
news from Daghestan, himself arrived

in October, when the presence of grim " Yarmoul," though
nevertheless, at the
with only a small additional
The
rebels to their knees.

ters, for
the
first
time, in
force, sufficed
to bring the
troops went into winter quar-
mountain Daghestan, occupying
various villages of Mekhtoulee, where for the

least,
officers,
at
the commander-in-chief setting the example, the time
passed pleasantly enough in the company of native wives.

Not, however, that Yermoloff was
comprehend dimly the danger
to be
He
idle.
apprehended from the
now no
growth of religious fanaticism, which could

fail to attract his attention.
procured a
visit
more than one
At
He
his instance
whom
Yermoloff, at
interview under
sought to win over to Russian
longer
the Shamkhal
from Seyid-Effendi,
secret
began to
cover
interests,
of night,
seemingly with
Khan, of KaziKoumoukh and Kioura, the duty of watching the movement

most carefully, and by various measures endeavoured to
secure the loyalty and devotion of influential men throughsuccess.
enjoined, moreover, on Asian
out Daghestan, or to rid himself of them.
was due, amongst other
results,
To
this policy
a sanguinary episode, which
drew forth a somewhat feeble remonstrance from the humane

Alexander
I.
i
Pog6din,
p. 337.
146
In Kaitagh dwelt at the time a certain Abdoulla, brotherin-law of Shaykh Ali, the deposed ruler of Derbend.
disturbances had not yet ceased in that country
was
rife,
and Abdoulla was pointed out
Minor
brigandage
as the chief culprit.
All endeavours to secure his person failed, and Krabbe,
who commanded
in the district, put a price
Then Mahmed-Khan, son of the
or alive.
on him dead
late
outsmi,
Adil-Ghirei, undertook to compass Abdoulla's destruction
on condition that his
way by night
few companions, made
to his victim's dwelling,
in the lower storey, utilised, as

for storage
and
should
Yermdloff's consent having been
Mahmed, with
obtained,
personal domains
father's
be settled upon him.
stabling.
is
When
and
laid a
his
mine
customary in Daghestan,
the explosion followed,
Abdoulla, his wives, his children, and his servants, were
blown
to pieces, with the exception of his eldest son Zoal,
who was
absent,
and his youngest, an infant in arms, who
"The news
escaped by a "miracle."
of a house being
blown up wherein sixteen innocent persons perished

one guilty," wrote Alexander to Yermdloff, "
disagreeable
retorted
to
me."
" There
To which
his
is
faithful
for
extremely
lieutenant
was no other way to destroy the
villain,
and one cannot call those who gave refuge to Abdoulla,

and assisted him in his acts of brigandage, entirely
innocent."
Peace reigned in Daghestan, and lasted until the commencement of the Turkish war in 1828; but the Caucasus
was hydra-headed, and Yermdloff, for all his strength and

The mountains were conquered
energy, no Hercules.
finally,
he thought
the
forests defied him.
Tchetchnia,
harassed, harried, but never subdued, driven to desperation
by Russian encroachments and YermdlofFs avowed determination to extinguish
its
independence, broke out, in

Mussulman
1824, into open hostility.
147
fanaticism, roused
his " conquests," but driven, temporarily,
in
Daghestan by
to
concealment through fear of his cannon and bayonets,
found a ready outlet in Tchetchnia, and focussed there
all
the hatred and discontent that had long been gathering
head amongst the
The Kussians, be
forest-dwellers.
it
noted, assign religious fanaticism as the primary cause of

this
and
all
secondary.
conquerors
It
but in truth
similar outbreaks;
was in the
r61e
of invaders,
it
On
do them
the other
Muhammad, though mighty
hand, zeal for the religion of

the part
civilisers
nor, to
they ever attempt to proselytise.
justice, did
oppressors,
use the current euphemism,
or, to
that they excited such bitter resentment
was only
it
played henceforth, was but as air in a blow-pipe
The Ghazavat would
feeding a flame that already existed.
never have been preached in the Caucasus had the Russians
been peaceful and friendly neighbours.

Yermoloff had divided the Line into two separate com-
mands, the right flank and the
left
the
the countries watered by the T^rek and

entrusted to General Grdkoff, a
man
latter,
its affluents,
six years,
being
of talent and energy,
but even more cruel and unscrupulous than
For
comprising
his
chief.
from the building of Grozny in 1818, Grekoff
devoted himself heart and soul to the carrying out of

Yermdloff's
policy
forests either cut
and
down
instructions.
or penetrated
Forts were
by broad
built,
alleys giving
more important aouls in the interior, 1 hostile

raided and destroyed, and Russian legal procedure
access to the
villages
forced on a people
customary law.
who clung with extreme

In
short,
tenacity to their
Grdkoff seems to have acted
in strict conformity with Yermdloff's ferocious threats

i
This effective means of warfare was due, like so
of Veliameenoff.
much else, to the
"to
initiative
148

hang hostages, and slaughter women and
Whatever the faults of the Tchetchens, no
destroy aouls,
children."
impartial reader of the Russian accounts of this period
and we have no other
can
doubt that they were cruelly
The immediate outward
oppressed.
result
was the
rising
of 1824, for which the signal was given by a prophet, a
mere
tool apparently of Beiboulat, the popular leader,
claimed to have been honoured by the
visit of
ing him credentials from Allah
farce
it
The
who
an angel, bear-
was
so gross that
could have found acceptance, even amongst the Tchet-
chens, with
herein
none but those willing
we have
to be deceived;
and
further proof, if any be wanted, of the fact
was at first but a means to an end,

and that end a secular one, namely, deliverance from an
enemy whose one merit was complete tolerance in matters
that religious fanaticism
The Eussian commander resorted to

One of the popular
of religion.
usual methods, but in vain.
was
all
his
leaders
publicly flogged to death, others within an inch of

2
But no punishment he was able to inflict

made any serious impression on the enemy or rather, his
cruelty served only to exasperate them.
The rebellion
spread from the Soulak to the Upper Soundja, and involved
the people of Aksai, a section of the Koumuiks.
The
troops at Gr^koflfs disposal were insufficient in numbers to
cope with so extensive a movement yet reinforcements were
their
lives.
not to be had, for Yerm61off's
many
conquests gave ample
occupation to the army distributed in Daghestan and Transcaucasia
while, to the west,
Kabardd was
in insurrection,
Doubr6vin, vol. vi. p. 302.

Kavkazshy Sbornik, x. p. 81 " Totoush and Brezhakoff received each, at
Kostek, the people being assembled, 2000 blows, and Beiboulat's trusty support
aud hope amongst the Ingoosh, Djemboulat Tchetchoyeff, terror of the road
and brigand unmatched, passed six times through the ranks, a thousand strong,
without medical help, and when, under the last blows, he fell dead, was strung
up on a gallows as an example to others."
2
149
and the Kouban harassed by the Tcherkess and kindred

tribes.
Gr^koff marched hither and thither, but the Tchetchens evaded him or suffered only minor defeats, and on
the 9th July 1825 achieved a success of which the moral
was overwhelming.
effect
The Russian commander had,
that day, reached Aksai with a small force of all arms.
The
fled
inhabitants
submission, but the majority
professed
soon afterwards and joined the insurgents in the neigh-
bouring
The same night a mixed band, 2000
forest.
in
number, made a descent on Ameer-Hadji-Yourt, a small

fort,
The
25 versts away, on the banks of the Terek.
garrison was taken by surprise, and of 184 officers and
men, two-thirds were killed or captured. 1

victors
made
Next day the
their appearance before the fortress of Gherzel
aoul, and, with
numbers swollen to 5000
as a consequence
of their success, proceeded to lay siege to that place.

garrison consisted of about 500
yeff,
a brave and energetic
men under Major
officer,
The
Pantelie'-
and though the defences
were weak and the enemy succeeded in diverting the course

of the Aksai, thus depriving the defenders of all water
except the
little
they could obtain at night with difficulty
and danger, they held out against repeated assaults until

relieved on the 15th by a force of about 1500 men under
Generals Lissanievitch and Gr^koff, the former, who, as
was Grdkoff's superior officer,

having arrived in hot haste with such troops as he could
collect.
The following day the Russian commanders inchief of the T^rek province,
vited the remaining inhabitants of the adjoining village of
Aksai, whose behaviour during the siege had been more
than doubtful, though they had not actually joined the

enemy, to come in and make their submission.
1
Lissanie"-
Kavkazsky Sbornik, x. 98.

Kavkazsky Sbornik, x. 106 and following pages, where the capture of AmeerHadji-Yourt and subsequent events at Gherzel aoul are related in full.
8
150
vitch

had obtained a
influential villagers,
who were
to arrest
list
containing the names of the more
amongst them
the Russians, and his object was
especially of those
and
disaffected to
and punish them.
Gr^koff,
who knew
the native
character better, pointed out the impolicy of a course of
action which could only disturb the
and destroy
Koumuik
population
all
confidence in the good faith of the Russian
authorities; but his superior refused to be guided
such argument.
On
of Aksai, to the
number
by any
men
the afternoon of the 16th the

of 300,
were conducted into the
fort,
made
and
their appearance
where no precautions had
been taken, though the greater part of the garrison was

The two Russian
outside foraging and cutting wood.
quarters,
came down from the roof of their temporary

and, accompanied by a few subordinate officers,
went up
to the
armed.
Lissanievitch at
generals
crowd of natives, many of
Tartar, a language
once begun
he spoke
fluently,
whom
were
abusing them
in
using insulting terms,
He
and accusing them of the grossest treachery.
threat-
ened to destroy the most guilty amongst them, and proceeded

to call them out by name from the list in his hand.
The
first
and gave up their hindjals *

but when it came to the third, a certain
two stepped forward
without a word
Outchar Hadji, who was considered the chief

refused to budge.
When
in addition to this
culprit,
he
failed to
throw down his weapon at command Gre"koff himself

his temper, and, ordering his
force,
struck
him
in
men
the face.
he
to disarm the rebel
lost
by
In the twinkling of an
1
The two-edged, pointed, dagger of the mountaineers, often large and
weighty enough to merit the appellation "short sword." To stab was considered unmanly. The arms of the Caucasus were so famous that in 1831 men
were sent from the Russian Government works at Zlato-oust to Tiflis to learn
the art of steel-making from a certain Eliazaroff (Akti, vii. 343). Yet the
most treasured blades were of foreign make mostly Italian.
151
Outchar had drawn his hindjal and plunged
into
eye
Gr^koiFs stomach, killing him on the spot

to Lissanievitch
pieces by
officers
before he
was
the horrified bystanders.
there was no
it
then turning
he dealt him two wounds, of which that
unfortunate general died a few days
hurt two other
conspiracy,
for
his
later,
and severely
finally
It
is
hacked to
evident that
compatriots
made no
attempt at rescue or to overpower the small guard, but

ran out of the fort in utter consternation.
Lissanievitch,
however, reeling against the wall, called out, " Kill them
The
soldiers
inside the fort ran
"
!
after them, firing their
guns, and those outside, seeing the flying crowd pursued
by
their comrades, attacked
them almost
crime,
Russia.
to
them
in turn
and destroyed
a man, though they had committed no
and were, some
of them, staunch
adherents
of
CHAPTEE X
1826-1827
Yerm61off returns to the Line Death of Alexander I. Persian war Russian

disasters YermolofPs inaction Paskievitch Madatoff's victory at Shamkhor Paskievitch' s victory Yerm61off leaves the Caucasus His career
and policy
The news
He
at
of this tragic event reached Yermoloff in
who was
once sent instructions to Veliameenoff,
away on the Kouban,
to take Lissanievitch's
Tiflis.
place,
and
a few days later crossed the mountains to Vladikavkaz.
Here he was laid up with sickness for a short time, but

early in August made his appearance at Grozny, having
dismantled on his way some of the minor forts built by
himself or Grdkoff,
of the enemy.
lest
they should
fall
into the hands
Continuing his march to Vnezapnaya, he
reduced that fortress to more modest dimensions

a second
visit
to
Grozny,
and
after
threatened by Beiboulat, he
proceeded to build a new fort and a
new
village opposite
Tash-Kitchou in place of Gherzel aoul and Aksai, which

he
destroyed.
Koumuik
accessible,
plain,
The position now chosen was on the

away from the hills and forests less
;
therefore, to the Tchetchens, easier to defend,
and better situated
to contain
the
Koumuik
Ameer-Hadji- Yourt was rebuilt on stronger

Reinforcements to the extent of 7000
lines.
population.
1
men were drawn
1
The Emperor was much disturbed at the state of affairs in Tchetchnia,
but he wrote to Yerm61off (18th August 1825) that as there were now 60,000
men under arms in the Caucasus, a number never before equalled, he hoped
and believed that they would prove sufficient to restore order Kavkaztlcy
:
Sbornik, x. p. 221.

from Transcaucasia, an unfortunate necessity as
153
turned
it
out; and the remainder of the year 1825 was spent in
work of
this
destruction and reconstruction, but
no fighting took
which
occurred
a
was
Alexander
died,
I.
destined
on
long
before
Yerm61off's
unexpectedly,
to
exercise
and career:
fortunes
Taganrog, and was
at
succeeded, not by his next brother, Constantine,
Nicholas
The
I.
Petersburg
or
In December, however, an event
place.
influence
fatal
little
result
was the Decabrist
but by
rising
in
St.
and though Yerm61ofF, who in error had pro-
claimed Constantine, promptly corrected his very natural

mistake,
and
though
the
under
troops
accepted the change without a murmur,

Nicholas' suspicions
were roused.
It
command
his
it
appears that
certain at
is
least
that from the beginning of his reign, or very soon after-
wards,
he showed neither favour nor liking
tenant in the Caucasus, whose

able
to give
effect
ever, retained his
made
to
command
Successful, as ever,
many enemies were soon
hostility.
Yerm61off,
for the present,
how-
and in 1826
the
in
field,
he " punished
Tchetchens, burning their villages,
their forests,
his lieu-
campaign in Tchetchnia and the Caucasus.
his last
rebellious
their
for
" the
destroying
beating them in skirmishes that never de-
veloped into battles, and, occasionally, even seeking to win

them over by an unwonted display of clemency. 2 To outward appearance his success was complete. There was once
more peace on the Line, and for a time no more was heard
of the Ghazavat.
mind, yet
1
little
Yerm61off returned to
Tiflis,
disturbed in
thinking what Fate had in store for him.
" Excuse me, but I trust Yerm61off least of
all "
Emperor Nicholas to
Diebitsch in 1826.
2
One of his measures, approved by his friend General Davueedoff, was capturing a lot of Tchetchen women, giving away the comeliest in marriage, and
Pogodin, 333.
selling the rest at one rouble apiece
:
154
It
was now the summer of 1826.
putes with Persia,
The
frontier
dis-
originating in the treaty of Gulistan,
and only aggravated hy Yermdloff's seemingly successful

mission, had lately become so embittered that those best
qualified to
table.
judge deemed a rupture probable,
some time
this opinion, and, for

St.
not inevi-
if
The Russian commander-in-chief himself was of
he had urged
past,
Petersburg, pressing for reinforcements.
it
in
But neither
the Emperor, nor his Foreign Minister, Count Nesselrode,
could be brought to believe that Persia would so soon
again
risk
an
encounter with
Russia;
any
in
case,
they considered the army of the Caucasus ample for

purposes, and,
in
lieu
of additional troops,
sent
all
Count
Menshikoff with rich presents on a mission to Teheran
announce the accession of Nicholas and strengthen
to
friendly relations
They were
between the two Courts.
wrong, Yermdloff right; but
this,
naturally enough, served
but to aggravate his default in the eyes of his master
when, on the 19th July, the invasion of Karabagh by a

Persian army under Prince Abbas Mirza took him, hardly
by
surprise,
was no
but totally unprepared.
declaration of
ambassador was
still
It is true that there
war and that the Russian
special
within the dominions of the Shah.
But no one knew better than Yermdloff the ways of

Oriental rulers and what value they attached to the observance of international comity.
To
recall his
was but to bring down on him the obvious
warnings
retort,
"If
you were so sure that Persia meant war, why did you
1
Vatsenko (Russian consul in Teheran), 30th May 1825 " All here talk
war with Russia" Akti, vi. ii. 314, and see Mazar6vitch (Russian agent
in Teheran) to Yerm61off, 29th July 1825 Akti, vi. ii. 320.
:
of
Pog6din, 252.
3
Akti, vi. ii. 321. Kaye's
Nicholas I. to Yermoloff, 31st August 1825
account of the rupture is very unfair to Russia "Afghan War," i. 147.
:
155
adopt the most obvious measures of precaution
fail to
Menshikoff on his way back to Kussia was detained by

the Sirdar of Erivan, and only allowed to proceed, thanks
who
to the interposition of the British Minister,
charged
is
by the Kussians with having instigated the war. 1
Bombak and
border provinces,
Shouraghel, were
The
over-
run by the hordes of Erivan, Karabagh by the army of
The Russian
Abbas Mirza.
forces,
detachments over a vast and
many
small
distributed
in
country,
were
difficult
sur-
Goumri (Alexandropol) was blockaded, but the garrison managed to

escape.
On the other hand, a force numbering nearly
prised and, in
1000
laid
cases, exterminated.
men, forgetful of the traditions of Kotliarevsky,

down its arms on the banks of the Akh-Kara-
Shousha was besieged, but under
Tchai.
gallant com-
its
mandant, Colonel Reout, ably seconded by Major Kluke
a name
Daghestan held out
von Klugenau
in
we
shall
hear again and again
weeks until
for six
thereby, in all probability, saved Georgia
relieved,
from the
and
fate of
Karabagh, which was devastated and well-nigh depopu-
opened
Elizave"tpol
lated.
gates
its
Distant Lenkoran was abandoned by
which took refuge on
an island
but successfully defended.
who
on
winked
Akti,
fierce
at if not
vi.
376.
ii.
361
it
only the Persians

territories
but the Kurds, admirable
course
of a raid,
by the Turkish
authorities,
fighters,
instigated
German
in
the
colony of Ekatereenenfeld,
carrying off those of the inhabitants

1
small garrison,
and Baku was besieged,
Nor was
no breach occurred
utterly destroyed the
ibid., p.
invaders.
Russia was at peace with Turkey, and
this occasion.
horsemen and
its
the
and sword through Russian
carried fire
officially
to
who were
not mas-
but see MenshikofFs thanks to Macdonald (Kinneir),
156
sacred to be sold into lifelong captivity at Constantinople
and other Turkish

It will
centres.
be asked, where
And
and what was he doing]
this time
all
the answer
best friends can only give with regret.

Tiflis,
sending orders,
at all costs,
and
condemning
at the
had
failed to
it is
is
one that his
He
remained at
Reout to hold Shousha

commanders in similar strain,
true, to
other
to
was Yermdloff,
same time in severe terms those who
But
stem the tide of invasion.

seems to have been
preoccupation
defending the border provinces with the 35,000
command
his
in Transcaucasia,
Nicholas
of reinforcements.
his coronation, found
demand
for
it
I.,
who was
impossible
same time
at the
of
frontiers
Moscow
in
for
comply with the
to
calling
Erivan,
men
Tiflis
itself
He
by Abbas Mirza.
cate-
already in Georgia and
and occupy that khanate.
advance in that direction until

lest
Don Cossack
upon Yermdloff
The commander-in-chief, however, held

Karabagh,
men under
two divisions of infantry, but sent one, the
gorically to gather the 15,000
on the
of
and the urgent necessity
20th, from the Crimea, and six regiments of

cavalry;
his chief
hopelessness
the
it
impossible to
order was
restored
in
should be exposed to attack
reported
that
the
war,
brought
about, he considered, by religious fanaticism,
had roused
Mussulman popuGeorgia alone remained intact. 3
The
against the Russians the whole of the

lation,
and that
Emperor, deeply mortified at the course of events, held

1
Yermoloff reports that, in spite of specious assurances, the Pasha of
Akhaltsikh himself held captive thirty colonists in December 1826, and
actually sold three of

to liberty
*
The
Akti,
vi.
full list of
ii.
them to a compassionate Armenian, who restored them

360.
these troops, together with their dispositions at the outgiven by Potto, vol. III. i. p. 115, note.
break of the war, is

3
Yermoloff to the Chief of the General
vi. ii
358.
Staff,
30th June 1821
Akti,

none the
less to his opinion that the forces at Yermoloff's
disposal were
not inadequate,
energetic offensive.
that
157
had already
and again demanded an
Dissatisfied, moreover,
with the delay
occurred, predisposed to take an unfavour-
able view of Yerm61off's conduct,

his military capacity,
he
and doubting seriously
offered Kotliarevsky the
oppor-
tunity of gaining fresh laurels on the scene of his former

exploits,
and when that hero, owing
to his
wounds, was
compelled to refuse the invitation, sent his favourite, Paskievitch, instead. 2
The
final
his
truly
Yermoloff's fate was sealed.
excuse put forward by Yermoloff himself
delay in taking any but the

most perfunctory action against the invaders was that his
energies were paralysed by the knowledge of his imperial
for
inexplicable
master's mistrust. 3
in Tiflis itself
woman.
Meantime the alarm and discontent
grew to a head, and was
The
by
finally voiced
Princess Be"boutoff, an aged lady, under-
took the task, shirked by the sterner sex, of expounding

the fears and grievances of her fellow-countrymen.
She
had witnessed the horrors of Agha Muhammad's invasion

and the Daghestani raids, all Georgia trembled at the
imminent prospect of having those horrors repeated, yet
the Russian commander-in-chief sat as
his capital,
he whose boast
it
if
spell-bound in
had been that his very name
struck terror into the hearts of his enemies.
was
Yermoloff
and Prince Madatoff arriving opportunely from Piatigorsk, he despatched him with an advanced
at last roused,
corps against the enemy, but, as usual, with strict injunctions not to risk a battle against greatly superior numbers.
The
result
was what might have been
and served
Nicholas to Yermoloff, 11th August 1826.
Akti,
vi.
ii.
p. 361
Akti,
vi.
ii.
p. 361.
Yerm61off's letter to Nicholas
expected,
I.
asking to be recalled
Pog6din, 377.
158
to
strengthen the universal condemnation of Yermoloff's

Maddtoff, on the
previous conduct.
2000 men gained a
2nd September, with
brilliant victory over five
times that
number of Persians at Shamkhor; the siege of Shoushd

was raised the Russians re-entered Elizav^tpol, and confidence was in some degree restored.
On the 10th Paskie"vitch arrived, and took over the command of the troops in
the field under direct instructions from the Emperor.
The
;
arrival of reinforcements
from Russia
pick of
set free the
Caucasian regiments, and with an army, including
the
numbering 8000 men, with 24 guns,

Paskievitch on the 14th September, just a fortnight from
the date of his arrival in Tiflis, engaged and routed on
Madatoff's forces,
the banks of the

vdtpol, the
miles west
18
main Persian army, estimated
with 26 guns, the
by English
Akstafa,
latter, it is said
officers.
The
losses
from
Eliza-
men,
at 60,000
by the Russians, directed
on both sides were small
those of the Persians 3000 men, one-third of
whom
were
The Russians lost 12 officers and 285

men killed and wounded. But the moral effect was allimportant. The days of Kotliarevsky and Kariaghin had
The Russians were once more invincible the
returned.
taken prisoners.
Persians lost heart, and the
ultimate result of the war
could no longer be in doubt.

Yermtfloff's position
lingered
on,
however,
He
had now become untenable. 2

in
Transcaucasia,
nominally
supreme command, though virtually limited in his

diction by the fact that Paskievitch, as
commander
in
juris-
in the
1
As a matter of fact Dawson, a sergeant of the Royal Artillery, who had
entered the Persian service, saved fourteen of the guns after the defeat of
the Persian army and flight of several of the artillery officers. Apparently
there were no other Englishmen present. See Monteith, op. cit., p. 128.
2
Nicholas in a despatch of 24th October 1826 severely reprimands Yerm61off for not reporting to him every four or five days as ordered Akti, vi.
:
ii.
384.

field,
159
held his appointment from the Emperor himself.
no wonder
that
relations
between the two grew daily more embittered.
In Yer-
is
it
December 1826 he
moloff's Diary under date 26th
he had found Paskievitch
after saying that
our
at Tiflis
writes,
:
"
At
meeting it was not difficult to note his dissatisfacwhich increased the more that he claimed the right
first
tion,
of being informed as to
I replied that I
my
intentions and plans
had no need of
his advice
that I
to
which
knew
of
one case only when the counsel of subordinates was asked,
and then the opinion not only of an

rank,
but of one
respect.
of campaign, assuring
He
me
asked
that the
me
would send in
my
plan,
would then
see
rare,
and
to explain
on
it.
plan
I replied that
and he could send in
how
was
this
my
Emperor would be glad
to have the opinion of each of us
his Majesty
of his high
lower was listened to with
infinitely
Such occasions, however, were
not one of them.
officer
his
each of us understood
This answer increased his anger
the business in hand.

against me."
communication with
Petersburg, laid to YermdlofFs charge the whole blame
PaskieVitch,
who was
in direct
St.
for
the lamentable condition of affairs in the Caucasus, and
more
especially for the disaffection in the former khanates,
He accused
and the exasperation that drove Persia to war.
him, moreover, of intrigue and obstruction, and finally deThe Emperor,
clared that either he or Yermoloff must go.
2
In view of the above it is difficult to accept the statep. 351.

Davueedoff and others that Vermoloff, in the noblest spirit of
patriotic self-sacrifice, voluntarily furnished Paskievitch with all his plans,
information, &c, and sent him to gather the laurels jdue in reality to his own
1
Pog6din,
ments
of
"genius
and
labours.
to the frontier delimitation.

noff
bad faith towards Persia in regard

See correspondence between him and Veliamee-
It is impossible to acquit Yermoloff of
Akti,
vi.
ii.
245
also
on this subject,
ibid.,
277, 283, 284, 286, 288.
160
unwilling to act hastily, sent Count Diebitsch to investigate
power to decide between the rival commanders.

Yerm61off had still some hope of justification,
but, understanding at last that all was indeed over, he
matters, with full
bowed
to fate
It was accepted,
March
1827) that, in St.
the day (29th
and sent in
but on the eve of
his resignation.
Petersburg, Nicholas appointed PaskieVitch commander-inchief, Diebitsch, in virtue of the authority entrusted to
He had
deprived Yermoloff of his command.
him,
already,
on
the 6th, written Yerm6loff a cruel letter, in which he said

" H.I.M. finding, to his great regret, in your report (as to
execution of Tartar rebels) confirmation of the rumours that
had reached his Majesty, has deigned to order me to declare

to your excellency that the measures for keeping in sub-
jection the people of this country arbitrarily chosen

in contravention of the imperial will duly
you have
entirely failed
by you
made known
of their purpose,
as
is
to
clearly
evidenced by the fact of this rebellion taking place the
moment
am commanded
excellency in H.M.'s name."
On
consul
For which abuse
the Persians crossed the frontier.
of power I
to
severely reprimand
March 1827 the once all-powerful prouse his own term left the Georgian capital
the 28th
to
with an escort he had to beg

the Caucasus, never to return.
aside to visit the spot
whom was
buried
all
The remainder
for,
and a few days
where Alexander
my
Akti,
"
vi.
i.
The new
later
At Taganrog he turned
I.
had died
" with
good fortune." 3
of his long
life
was spent
in
retirement, at first in Ari61 (Orel), afterwards in

i
your
modest
Moscow,
527.
authorities bestowed on
provide the convoy given to
who
me not even
so
much
attention as to
In Tiflis I asked and obtained it

myself ; at the military post-stations on the road the officials in charge supplied it from the habit of obeying me." Yerm61offs Diary Pog6din, p. 353.
3
Pog6din, p. 354,
all
leave.
161
and, as time went on, he
became more and more the idol

of the army and the nation.
His faults and failings were
forgotten, his mighty deeds alone remembered.
Outliving
most of his contemporaries, the hero of Borodin6, of Kulm,
of Paris,
ment
became
for the
new
generation the living embodi-
of a glorious past, the incarnation of that devoted
patriotism
which
page of her
in 1812 gave Russia the
And when
history.
most cherished
he died in 1861,
at tbe
age of eighty-five, Russia mourned in him her darling son.
In dealing with his career in the Caucasus,

to arrive at
it is difficult
any certain judgment of his merits, at any sure
His
estimate of his achievements.
faults
and
failings,
on
the other hand, are obvious enough.
He
gained brilliant victories at slight
for a time the greater part of
cost,
and brought
Daghestan under Russian
dominion; he did not conquer Tchetchnia, but repeatedly
and severely "punished"

Vnezapnaya, and other
its
forts
inhabitants,
on
and
its confines,
built Grozny,
thereby strength-
ening very considerably the base whence the coming war
was
to
be waged.
He
absorbed the Persian and Tartar
khanates, and treated Persia with astonishing arrogance.
was these very measures and successes that led, on

the one hand, to the Persian war and the revolt of the newly
But
it
acquired provinces, on the other, to that great outburst of

religious
and
racial fanaticism which,
under the banner of
Muridism, welded into one powerful whole so
many weak
and antagonistic elements in Daghestan and Tchetchnia,

thereby initiating the bloody struggle waged unceasingly
during the next forty years.
Daghestan speedily threw
off
the Russian yoke, and bade defiance to the might of the
northern empire until 1859.
In Tchetchnia mere border
conducted by independent partisan leaders, brigands,

as the Russians with some justice termed them, with a view
forays,
162
to loot
and nothing more, developed into a war of national
independence under a chieftain as

domitable as Yermoloff himself.
and
struggle was inevitable,
capable,
cruel,
It
may
and
in-
be that the long
in that case Yerm6loff must,
together with Veliameenoff, be credited with having laid
the foundation for the ultimate success of Eussia, but that
he himself never dreamed of what was to come

from the representations he made
" Sooner
or later,
your Majesty,
is
evident
to his imperial master.

it
will
be necessary to
undertake the work (the occupation of the line of the

peace and quietness
Soundja), and the present universal
a favourable opportunity.
offer
must be
it
may
protected,
and
it
is
The Line
my
of the Caucasus
desire that in your reign
enjoy safety and repose."
With no
little
he obtained the permission he sought, and the

built,
but what kind of " safety and repose
"
trouble
forts
were
the
Line
enjoyed for the next few decades will presently be seen.

It is quite certain that neither
Yermoloff nor Veliameenoff
foresaw the ultimate development of Muridism, though

birth
and early growth took place under
and of necessity forced

It is Yerm61off's
itself
its
their very eyes,
on their cognisance.
supreme merit, in Russian
eyes, that
he recognised from the beginning the necessity of extending Russian
dominion over the whole of the Caucasus,
and semi-independent States

and communities up to the borders of Persia proper and
the northern limit of Turkey in Asia.
But the means he
including the independent
adopted
to
attain
this
end were at
least
questionable.
Probably Moscovite patriotism will never admit that milder

1
Even Nicholas
I.,
a very severe ruler, was
exercised on the natives under Yerm61ofFs rule.
made uneasy by the
On 29th July
cruelty
1826 he wrote
to the latter in angry strain, ordering General Vlasoff to be tried by courtmartial for gross cruelty and injustice to the Tcherkess, repeating emphatically
his intention of following his brother,
Alexander
I.'s,
humane
policy
Pog6din,
Ybrm(5loff
168
and juster treatment, such as was dreamt of by the philanthropic Alexander
Mord6vin,
won
I.,
by PaskieVitch
by Admiral
himself,
General Eteeshtcheff, and others, would have
over the fierce and lawless tribes of the Caucasus to
may be
so
the Christian and moral point of view, that
is
submission and orderly conduct.
It
but from
no
justifi-
cation of such a ruthless policy as Yermoloff's, in reference

to which,
however,
let
while individually any

it,
it
be emphatically repeated that,
man may
have the right to condemn
collectively, as nations, it is a case of glass
round.
houses
all
And in another letter to his commander-in-chief a little later (16th September) he declares, " It is better to have mercy than in revenging injuries
to take on the semblance of our villainous enemies " ibid., p. 363.
1 "
Yerm61offs time, when the mountaineers were looked upon not as one
side in a war but as personal enemies, not to be spared even in misfortune ;
when the humane maxim of the popular generalissimo, ' one doesn't hit a
man lying down,' was forgotten, as if after Souv6roff we had been obliged to
go backwards instead of forwards, and become more cruel instead of more
humane " Kavkazsky Sbornik, x. p. 437.
p. 358.
CHAPTER XI
1827-1828
Paskievitch blockades Erivan Enters Nakhitchevan Takes Abbas-Abad

Battle of Ashtarak Kras6vsky Serdar-Abad taken Erivan Tabriz
UrmiaArdebil Treaty
of
Turkmen tchai
Anglo-Persian relations
from
1800 to 1827
With
vitch,
was
Yermoloffs disappearance from the scene Paskie-
though invested with
predecessor's authority,
all his
hampered by Diebitsch, who, it is supwould not unwillingly have taken over the command
himself.
Diebitsch lingered on in Tiflis until the last day
of April 1827, and twelve days later Paskievitch, free at
still
for a time
posed,
last,
save for the distant control of the Emperor, set out
from the Georgian
capital,
and on 15th June joined
forces
with the advanced guard which, under Benckendorff, had
on the 27th April invested Erivan,
after
occupying without
resistance the monastery of Etchmiadzin.

tified city of
some
strength,
Erivan, a forwas the main objective in the
Russian plan of campaign, the details of which, elaborated

in St. Petersburg, considerably altered
many
objections,
found, after
to
all,
difficulties
owing to Yermoloffs
and again modified by Diebitsch, were
impracticable in execution, owing mainly
of food and
had already been delayed on
transport.
Paskievitch,
this account,
when he
who
arrived
before the walls of Erivan found Benckendorff's force so
weakened by hunger and
sickness,
and some
in a cavalry attack on the Persian

in April,
that he decided to replace
camp
it
loss sustained
at Aiglanli late
by a fresh body of
Monteith, op. A, p. 134, says " 300 of the Russians were killed." Benckendorff himself wrote, expressing his conviction from what he had seen, that
the Don Cossaeks were no match for the Kurdish horsemen Potto, III. ii. 301.
1

troops under Krasovsky.
165
This done, he concentrated the
on the Garni-tchay River some 50 versts
rest of his forces
(33 miles) to the south
and on the 21st June
set out for
Nakhitchevan, the capital of the khanate of that name,
72 versts (48 miles) farther on the road to Tabriz.

object
undertaking
in
threaten the last-named
this
expedition was twofold
city,
Abbas Mirza's
capital,
His
to
and
to
prevent any attempt to relieve Erivan from that direction.
His purpose had been kept
secret until the last
moment
even from his own generals, and though the route proved
extraordinarily difficult
nature of the country
owing
to the intense heat
and the
a waterless deserthe had the
satis-
faction of entering Nakhitchevan unopposed on the 26th
June.
His next move was on Abbas- Abad, a " new and regular
"
European fortress x of no great extent, but built from the
2
designs of a competent French military engineer, and im-
portant inasmuch
it
commanding the passage of the
as,
Aras,
protected the whole khanate against invasion from the
The commandant, a
having refused a summons
due form
and, an attempt
Abbas Mirza,
siege was laid in
brother-in-law of
south.
to surrender,
made by
that prince to relieve
the beleaguered fortress having resulted in his defeat at
Djevan-boulak, Abbas-Abad, with

capitulated
on the 7th July.
its
garrison of 2700 men,
Nakhitchevan became a
Russian province, and has remained one ever

road to Tabriz
now
lay open,
victory, wrote to the
in time,
since.
The
and Paskievitch, flushed with
Emperor that
and sickness made no
if
the convoys arrived
further ravages in the
ranks of his army, he would march on that capital forthwith.
He
has been condemned for not having done
Monteith,
Akti,
vii.
op.
551
cit.,
:
p. 134.
Paskievitch to Nicholas
s
I.,
Ibid., p. 81.
7th July 1827.
so,
166
sickness
but the provision trains were slow in coming,
he
increased, and, rightly or wrongly,
hope of finding a healthier station
retired in the vain
Kara
for the troops at
Baba, at the foot of the mountains of Salvarty.
Meantime events
had taken a turn none
farther north
too favourable to the Kussian arms.
was exceptionally hot and dry
The summer
of 1827
round Erivan.
in the plains
The blockading force under Krasdvsky suffered terribly,

and on the 21st June, no rain having fallen for two whole
months, that commander was constrained to
He
retire.
now
did so with the less reluctance in view of the fact
patent that the heavy siege-train could not arrive before
August.
Krasovsky halted at Etchmiadzin;
but, after collecting
food supplies and arming the monastery with

retired farther
field
guns, he
on the 30th, leaving in garrison one battalion

Armenian volunteer cavalry.
of infantry and a small body of
This force was far too weak in the circumstances, and the
result
was
disastrous.
The Khan of Erivan, encouraged by
the unhoped-for abandonment of the siege, sallied out and
attacked the monastery on the 4th July
was
still
at hand,
wise was
it
and relieved
when, a month
it
later,
without
but Kras6vsky
Far other-
loss.
the Persians under Abbas
Mirza himself suddenly made their appearance before Etchmiadzin in overwhelming force.
Abbas Mirza's plan was,
taking advantage of PaskieVitch's inactivity, to capture the
monastery and march by way of Goumri on

that capital,
left
Tiflis,
and return through Karabagh.
devastate
Krasovsky has
on record his conviction that this daring conception was
quite practicable,
and only defeated by
his
own
he was smarting under the reproaches of his

mander-in-chief, and though his opinion
is difficult
now
to decide
action
irascible
may be
but
com-
correct, it
whether he or PaskieVitch was to

blame,
any
mere force of circumstances.
possibly, the
or,
case,
Etchmiadzin, with
167
In
band of
its priceless relics, its
monks headed by Narses V., and its small Eussian garrison,

was now in imminent danger. To hold out many days was
clearly impossible;
urgent appeals therefore were sent to

Krasovsky; and that general, whose courage at least was
beyond all question, collecting a force of 1800 infantry, 500
cavalry, and 12 guns, set out from Djengoulee on the 16th
August.
The distance to Etchmiadzin was but 35 versts
(23 miles), but the road lay over rugged mountains and
through narrow defiles; the heat was
The
Persians barred the way.

as the battle of
Ashtar&k
stirring in the annals
men
(or
and 30,000
terrible,
story of the fight,
Oushakan),
is
one of the most
of Caucasian warfare.
Officers
himself,
and
none more
who charged and fought hand
to
hand
here, there,
now one
as
now
the broken, straggling line.
another of
wounded
the
in
danger threatened
arm by a bursting
were killed under him
seemed
inevitable.
the
fought on,
by
through
their heroic
and eventually on
moment, and
two horses
of his whole
terrible
commander
the
17th
it
group,
He was
Etchmiadzin must then
" all that were left of them."
at the last
shell
annihilation
Georgia could not escape at least a

inspired
Krasovsky
so than
and everywhere,
But
and
many with
fought on and on with stubborn bravery
unsurpassed heroism
force
known
fall,
and
devastation.
the Russians
cut
their
way
There was a panic
was a disorderly rabble that
rushed madly to the sheltering walls of the monastery,
where the venerable patriarch throughout the

held aloft the
fight
had
Roman spear stained with the blood of

God of Victories. But the garrison
Christ, praying to the

sallied out
the Persians, losing heart, retired to Azerbijan
and Etchmiadzin was saved, though
at a
heavy
cost.
Of
168
the
little
army, 2300 strong, that had started from Djen-
Twenty-
goulee the day before, less than half remained.

four officers
and 1130 men had

but all impedimenta had been abandoned.
fallen; by heroic efforts the
guns were saved
The Persian
was no more than 400.

was disputed at the time whether the
It
loss
tarak was a Russian victory or defeat
battle of
Ash-
but Krasdvsky had
who condemned
accomplished his purpose, and even those
his generalship could not but admire his devoted, heroic
In his own opinion he had saved Georgia; but
courage.
it
is
difficult to
agree with
him
in this
when we
consider
had Etchmiadzin been evacuated after the retreat

from Erivan, he would have stood across Abbas Mirza's
path in a position at his own choice, unweakened by the
garrison left at the monastery, and reinforced by the whole
strength of the Kabarda regiment, which was within four
that
days'
march of him.
After Ashtarak the demoralisation
of the troops was, according to Paskievitch, so great that
two companies engaged in cutting forage ran away at the

sight of a dozen friendly Tartars, abandoning a gun. 1 It
is
to the
honour of Nicholas
on
to Paskievitch, he,
that ungenerous
this
if brilliant
I.
that,
devoted as he was
and other occasions, put aside

commander's strictures on his
subordinates, choosing to reward their successes, however

qualified, rather
than censure their shortcomings.
Information of what had befallen Kras6vsky's force was

slow in reaching Paskievitch at Kara Baba, one hundred
with communications interrupted
miles away,
army
Mirza's
news did
by Abbas
but when, towards the end of August, the
filter
through,
soon to be confirmed by
official
reports,
the commander-in-chief saw that to relieve Kra-
sovsky
was
1
Akti,
imperative.
vii.
485
He
abandoned,
Paskievitch to Diebitsoh, 3rd
therefore,
March
1828.
the
169
contemplated invasion of Azerbijan and marched on Etchmiadzin, which place he reached on the 5th September,
intending
of
now
resume the siege of Erivan, the capture
to
which had become urgent owing
of a rupture with Turkey.

ever, to
was
between the two
worst
to the
officer
1
that duty."
howlast-
and defended by 1500 men under Husayn,
places,
brother to Hassan, the brave and energetic

" the
necessary,
first
fortified village situated
to the south of the road
little
named
It
reduce Serdar-Abad, a large
growing danger
to the
that
Khan
of Erivan,
could have been entrusted with
The. siege lasted four days, from the 16th
20th September, when the garrison attempted to
escape, but, over
500 having been killed and many made
prisoners, the remainder surrendered at discretion.
days later the Russian army once more
The
ance before Erivan.
siege
made
its
Three
appear-
was now pushed with
all
energy under the able direction of Poushtchin, a former
reduced to the ranks for complicity in
engineer officer
the Decabrist outbreak, and on the 2nd October Erivan

at
last
fell
Hassan was captured
into Russian hands.
the sword of Tamerlane, his most treasured possession, was
presented by Krasovsky to the Emperor;

regular infantry were
taken,
and
many
among
other
the prisoners
trophies.
Like
49 guns were
Nakhitchevan,
and remained, a Russian

PaskieVitch received the St. George of the
Erivan, the khanate,

province.
became,
2nd Class and the surname of Erivansky;

principal
4000 Persian
officers
Poushtchin, to
were rewarded
whom much
in
others of the
due proportion; but
of the credit
was due
rapid reduction of so strong a fortress with so

1
Monteith,
op. cit., p. 137.
little loss,
According to this authority, "2000 of the gar-
rison were killed," but the above figures are Paskievitch's own.
1
Akti,
vii.
Akti,
vii.
563
564
for the
I.,
I.,
21st September 1827.

3rd October 1827.
170
was promoted merely

officer, for
the rank of non-commissioned
to
with Nicholas political crimes were never to
be forgotten or forgiven.
Lieutenant- General Monteith on this and
sions
witness
bears
assault
was scarcely
resisted,
however,
not have escaped notice that the war under
consideration
had
and
been carried on in more
or
Plans were made both in
St.
far
so
haphazard fashion.
Petersburg
General Pas-
which always follow the capture of a place
without a capitulation."
It will
"The
and put a stop
to his honour, at once entered
to the horrors
less
humanity:
but the place was treated
by storm
as having been taken

kievitch,
Paskievitch's
to
other occa-
treated to reciprocal
locally,
altered for better or worse
criticism,
without requisite knowledge,
and invariably found impracticable when
it
came
to being
Yermoloff's destructive criticisms have
put in execution.
been adduced by his partisans to prove
that, after all,
he
was in the right; but in view of his strange
inactivity
during the earliest stage of the operations,
may
it
well
be doubted whether he would have proved successful in

the field against such an enemy as the Persians on this
occasion proved
themselves to be.
from lack
of local
and other
faults
services of
men whose
own
deficiencies.
PaskieVitch
quick temper
knowledge and from
him
of character that deprived
But
he added a sublime
suffered
of the
experience could have supplied his

to military genius of a
faith in himself,
contempt for his enemy; and the
high order
a no less sublime
latter,
usually a most
dangerous quality, was, when accompanied by dauntless

valour,
inferior
the one thing necessary
numbers
against
1
such
Page
139.
in fighting
foe
as
with greatly
the
Persians.
171
Eussian commanders, from the time of Peter the Great
up
and
to
PaskieVitch
including
when
over and over again that
himself,
this
spirit
had proved
prevailed
no
odds were so formidable, no mere superiority in numbers

so great, as to preclude the chance, the certainty almost,
of victory over the undisciplined or semi-disciplined hordes

of the Shah.
may
It
caution would have
moloff's extreme
success
reasonably be doubted whether Yer-
PaskieVitch's rashness
as
would have brought Persia

did, in
whether,
being
dangerous
foe,
concentrated
war already imminent.
the
in
campaign
could
agreeable
or
himself, and
still
latter category
unforeseen
hardly
the
fail
reverse.
be
to
To
it
fact,
he
latter
had been
filled
more
Be
this
was, the present
fruitful
in
surprises
commander-in-chief
the
more to Nicholas in
difficulties
Turkey,
against
may, planned and conducted as
it
in
her knees, as the
to
time to allow of Russia's whole strength in Trans-
caucasia
as
achieved the same
St.
Petersburg, the
already to overflowing by the
of obtaining and transporting pro-
by the consequent delays that had occurred in

movements of the troops, by the retirement from
Erivan, and by many other untoward incidents. A surprise of another kind was now to bring joy to the Tsar
visions,
the
if
not,
for
reasons
obvious,
sufficiently
arrogant lieutenant.
We
obtained the
of victories
credit
to
his jealous,
have seen how often Yerm61off
won
in defiance
PaskieVitch
of his
turn
by the
was to profit by a success gained in similar circumstances
orders
brilliant Madatoff.
by one of his ablest subordinates.

trast
But
in
in strong
con-
to his predecessor, he displayed none of YermolofFs
magnanimity, condemning without reserve a contravention

of his instructions that deprived
anticipated triumph.
him
personally of a justly
172
When
left
Paskievitch, hastening to the relief of Krasdvsky,
Nakhitchevan, he
entrusted
command
the
in
that
quarter to Prince Eristoff, a Georgian, with Mouravidff as

his principal
lieutenant.
The duty he
laid
upon them
was the defence of that important frontier province, with

permission to make certain movements beyond the Aras,
but in no great strength, and merely with the object of
diverting attention from his
own
operations against Erivan,
and, being fully aware of Eristoff's headlong bravery and
made
Mouravioff's ambitious character and iron will, he
use, in thus limiting their role, of unequivocal language.
Abbas Mirza, who, after the failure of his

attempt on Etchmiadzin, had retired to Azerbijan, now
thought to profit by Paskievitch' s absence, retake Nakhit-
But
in vain.
chevan, destroy Eristoff's comparatively small force, and,

falling
upon the main
As
Russian convoys.
line of
communication, cut
was a sound one
before, the plan
Abbas
command a more disciplined army, there
indeed,
results
Mirza had been fortunate
if
he might not have achieved. 1
at his disposal, of
cavalry, his
off the
is
enough
to
no saying what
But with the troops
which the best were ever the
irregular
chances of success were never great, and on
this occasion
Fortune again failed him.
He
crossed the
Aras unopposed, but before reaching Nakhitchevan learnt

that Eristoff
was
in front of
guns, a force larger than he

retreated hastily,
him with 4000 men and 26

had been
led to expect.
He
attempted to entrench himself on the
Persian side of the Aras, but fled the
moment
succeeded in effecting the passage of that
the Russians
river.
Eristoff
pursued him as far as Tchors, but learning there that he

1
This opinion of Abbas Mirza derives naturally from his plans and moveoccasions. But it is in direct contradiction to Monteith's
estimate, for which, however, there may have been other reasons.
ments on various
own

had concentrated
So
chevan.
infringed,
was
all his forces at
173
Khoi, retired to Nakhit-
had hardly been

but news having come that the Persian army
far Paskievitch's instructions
in a state of complete demoralisation, the temptation
to profit
men
by the occasion proved
to
irresistible
two such
They set out accordingly

on the 30th September, reached Marand with only trivial
opposition on 2nd October, not knowing, of course, that
PaskieVitch was at that moment making his triumphal entry
into Erivan.
Abbas Mirza, whose movements were someas Eristoff
and Mouravi6ff.
times no less rapid than well masked, succeeded in taking

the Russians in the rear, and for a
moment
them and the Aras.
became dangerous, and
justified,
fall
possibly,
position
Paskievitch's wrath later
on,
but the
of Erivan becoming known, the Persian army was
seized with panic,

fled
The
stood between
and dispersed.
Tartars,
and in
spite
of
Abbas Mirza's
The population of
efforts
Azerbijan, mostly
had long groaned under Persian oppression, and
were ready to welcome the Russians as
deliverers.
No
danger threatened, therefore, except from such remains
army as the Persian prince had been able to collect

once more at Khoi. In these circumstances, and learning
that Tabriz, though strongly fortified, was garrisoned by
no more than 6000 men, Mouravi6ff determined to hazard
a coup de main of the most daring description, but keeping
of his
his intention secret
commander
Russians
even from
Eristoff,
merely urged that
to a further advance of indefinite extent.
left
Marand on 11th
The
October, and stopped for the
night at Sufian, 40 versts from Tabriz.
"It was then
only," wrote Mouravioff to his father, " that Eristoff fathomed
my
intention to take the capital.
He was
But next day

moved forward once more and camped 18 versts from
Tabriz was so near, and spoke of retreat.

I
surprised that
174
the
There was then
city.
more wavering,
little
was out of the question, especially
retreat
Without taking
superiors;
Tabriz, I dared not
taking
it,
show my
for,
indeed,
for
myself.
my
face to
displeasure.
I foresaw Paskidvitch's
But the thing was decided on my honour demanded it."

The 13th October the Russian advanced guard under
;
Mouravioff came to a halt at a distance of less than a
The
couple of miles from the suburbs of Tabriz.
troops
of the garrison fled in disorder along the Teheran road,

frightened,
it
who indeed
is
set
by the threats of the inhabitants,

upon the few who remained, and killing
said,
some, incarcerated the
Other accounts put
rest.
blame on the commandant, Agha Meer Futta,
the
all
who
is
Later in the day, Eristoff
accused of deliberate treachery.
with the main army having arrived, the gates were opened,
and
and wealthy
this ancient
the birthplace of Zoroaster,
city of
fell
60,000 inhabitants,
into
the hands of the
adventurous Russians without opposition. 1
Eristoff
had
no sooner entered Tabriz than he received news of the

taking of Erivan. With his congratulations on that event
he sent word to Paskie>itch that Abbas Mirza's capital
had likewise
fallen.
This
astounding
and
information reached the commander-in-chief at
unwelcome
Marand on
the 16th October, and three days later he entered Tabriz at

the head of his army (15,000 men, 52 guns) in
company with
Macdonald and the other members of the British Legation.

It might well be supposed that Persian resistance was
now
at
an end, and as a matter of
peace were at once set on

1
"The works, though not
defence,
and consisted
the reserved park of

p. 144.
and carried on through
strong, had recently been put in a state of
and deep ditch, and there was also

and gunners enough to man them it
of a double wall
field artillery,
was therefore perfectly capable

Monteith,
foot,
fact negotiations for
of resisting everything
but a regular siege "

the intermediary of Dr. (afterwards Sir John) McNeil,
enjoyed the
full
175
who
confidence of the Shah and personal ac-
quaintance with the ladies of his harem, a potent factor

in the
Muhammadan
part with the large
East. 1
But Feth
Ali's reluctance to
money contribution demanded, coupled
with the renewed hopes inspired by the approaching rup-
between Eussia and Turkey, delayed matters until
ture
8th January 1828, when, Abbas Mirza having taken leave

of PaskieVitch after an abortive interview, warlike operations
were resumed.
The
thoroughly demoralised to
Persians,
however, were too
Urmia (Urumia) was
fight.
occupied by General Laptieff without resistance.
Ardebil,
by previous arrangement with Abbas Mirza, 2 opened

gates on 25th January to Count Soukhtelen,
who
its
sent to
Petersburg the priceless library housed in the mosque
St.
of Shaykh-Sophi-Edeene', under pretence that the precious
manuscripts would be faithfully returned as soon as copies
had been taken.

Imperial Library at
Needless to say they are

St.
Petersburg.
Persia
still
in the
was now wholly
Colonel Volkhovsky, who was sent to Teheran to hasten the despatch of

the money indemnity, in his reports to Paskievitch bears emphatic testimony
to McNeil's extraordinary influence with the Shah, and attributes it not more
to the confidence inspired by the English Government than to McNeil's personal qualities and the fact that he had all along foretold the disasters that
would follow on a war with Eussia (Akti, vii. : Volkhovsky to Paskievitch,
The services of Macdonald, McNeil, and the other
19th December 1827).
members of the British Legation were warmly acknowledged by Paskievitch,
on whose recommendation Nicholas I. conferred Orders and presents on all of
them {ibid., 612 Nesselrode to Paskievitch, 12th April 1828).
2 Akti, vii. 586
Paskievitch to Abbas Mirza, 7th January 1828.
s
See Soukhtelen's own report in the matter to Paskievitch of 9th February 1828 (Akti, vii. 589), and Count Tchernisheff to Paskievitch (ibid., 616),
1
25th April, wherein Paskievitch is told to find some plausible pretext for
avoiding the return of the books if demanded. It was Paskievitch himself
who had ordered Poushtchin to take possession of the manuscripts (ibid., vii.
635 Paskievitch to Tchernisheff, 6th June 1828), the idea having arisen from
a memorandum drawn up by the learned Orientalist, Senkovsky, urging the
:
inclusion of manuscripts as part of the war indemnity. This document was

forwarded to Paskievitch by Diebitscb (7th November 1827), who stated that
176
at the
mercy of the conquerors.
Teheran
itself
must
fall
an
easy prey to the victorious Russians should they advance.
Turkey had not yet moved, and Feth Ali, who had been led
into the war by Abbas Mirza, who in turn, if we may believe
the Russians, was instigated by England, sued for peace,
which was signed
midnight between the 9th and 10th
at
February (1828) by Abbas Mirza at the village of Turkmentchai.

Russia by this instrument was confirmed in the
possession of the khanates of Erivan and Nakhitchevan, and
secured the sole right of navigation on the Caspian Sea.

Persia,
moreover, undertook
not
to
with
interfere
exodus of the Armenians from Persian to Russian
and agreed
the
territory,
to pay an indemnity of twenty million roubles.
Paskievitch had recommended the retention of Azerbijan,

saying that in that event the English might as well take ship
at Bushire
if
and
retire to India.
the renewal of the war
But the Emperor
made
province to Persia, to divide
it
it
preferred,
impossible to restore the

into several independent
khanates, lest the European Powers should suspect, and
Russia aimed at exclusive domination in Asia. 2
justly, that
On
March
the 20th
march
of Erivan,
Paskievitch, then within one
received
despatches from
St.
day's
Peters-
burg informing him that war had been declared against

Turkey.
The
story of the Russo-Persian wars
would be incom-
plete without further reference to British intervention in

Persia, the history of
Towards the
which may be summarised as
close
follows.
of the eighteenth century Tippoo
the Emperor, while holding that no such clause could well he included in the
make it known to the Persians that, as gifts,
old manuscripts would he very welcome.
1
Akti, vii. 572 Paskievitch to Nicholas I., 29th October 1827.
treaty, wished Paskievitch to
Ibid.,
574
Nicholas
I.
to Paskievitch, 29th
November
1827.
177
Sultan sent a mission to Persia seeking an alliance, and
Marquis Wellesley followed

of Persian extraction.
Tippoo
envoy being a native
his
suit,
fell at
Seringapatam in 1799,
but the value of Persian friendship once recognised, the

Indian Government determined to secure
it if
and
possible,
1800 Captain (afterwards Sir John) Malcolm arrived from
in
India at the Court of the Shah on a mission, of which the

origin
and
object- are thus stated
"The power
possessed by
checking the Afghans,
who
its
by the envoy himself:
(the Persian) sovereign
of
threatened to invade India, and
of repelling the ambitious views of France, if ever directed

to that quarter, led the governor-general
of the British
possessions in the East to form an alliance with Feth Ali
Khan
immediately after he was raised to the throne.
This
had the temporary success which was desired, of

diverting the Afghans from their meditated invasion of
India, and an impression was made of the power of the
English nation, both on the King of Persia and his subjects,
policy
favourable to the performance of the engagements into which
he had entered,
to
do
so,
to oppose, if ever required
by circumstances
the European enemies of Great Britain." 1
That the contingency thus provided against was not

entirely visionary is
visit
shown by the
fact that Malcolm's first
was followed almost immediately (1801) by an abortive
attempt on the part of Napoleon to establish relations
with Persia through the medium of an Armenian merchant.
Malcolm meantime had concluded a
treaty providing that
Persia should lay waste Afghanistan if the latter attacked
"remarkable,
India, but
which
it
for
chiefly,
proscribed the French."
the bitterness with
Four years
later,
111
History of Persia," vol. ii. p. 215. This " success," however, is scouted
" England and Russia in the East," p. 8, note, London, 1875.
Kaye's " Afghan War," i. 9, London, 1867. This treaty was never formally
by Rawlinson
a
war
ratified.
178
having broken out between France and Eussia, Napoleon
Komieu to Teheran with definite proposals

for an alliance.
Romieu died, but in 1806, the Shah
having in turn sought his friendship, the Emperor desent Colonel
spatched Joubert on the same errand with happier result
and imprisonment on
for the latter, after suffering detention
the road, eventually reached Teheran, and returned thence
Europe accompanied by a duly accredited Persian envoy,

who followed Napoleon to Tilsit, and there concluded a
to
treaty with him,
Power
could,
now
allies,
and the former
of course, offer no objection
when General
Russia and France were
1807).
(May
afterwards ratified at Finkenstein
Gardanne was sent with seventy commissioned and noncommissioned
officers to drill
and instruct the Persian army.
In England and in India, however,

rally
this proceeding, natu-
enough, roused great uneasiness.
Meantime Field-Marshal Goud6vitch had begun a

respondence with the French envoy in a
letter
cor-
dated the
25th March 1808 (received at Teheran 21st May).
Gar-
danne's answer was dated 2nd June, the Persians having

till
then refused him permission to write.
as mediator
He
sought to act
between Russia and Persia, and wrote, " I have
obtained formal assurances from his Majesty that neither
Jones nor Malcolm, nor any English agent, will be admitted

to his Court,
and firmans have been despatched
to prohibit their entry into Persia."
On
the 2nd July
Gardanne wrote, "Malcolm has been unable

Persian Court," and, in
tive
had
sailed
French agent's
fact,
to reach the
the Anglo-Indian representa-
away from Bushire

efforts
to all parts
in a huff.
But
all
were vain, as Russia resolutely
the
re-
fused to agree to an armistice, or to the transfer of the

negotiations to Paris, conditions insisted on by the Shah.
1
Akti, vol.
iii.
pp. 471
et seq.

In October
hostilities
were resumed
179
who had
the French,
undertaken to procure the evacuation of Georgia, had lost

caste with the Persians, and Gardanne, finding his position
untenable, left Teheran a few days before the arrival of
Harford Jones (afterwards Brydges),
Sir
accredited independently by the British
By March 1809
ment.
who had been
Home
Govern-
the French mission was at Tabriz
in a condition of honourable detention, 2
and English inmore paramount.

According to Malcolm, " The King of Persia had listened
fluence once
to the overtures of Bonaparte in the
hope that his mediation

power would enable him to recover Georgia; but
or his
when changes
in the conditions of
Europe compelled the
French Emperor to abandon his designs in Asia, he (the

Shah) reverted to his alliance with the English." 3
Sir
Feth
Shah,
(12th
Harford Jones concluded a second treaty with the

soon
Ali,
March (N.S.)
after
his
arrival
1809), providing,
European
that in the event of any
the
at
capital
amongst other
things,
forces invading Persia
a British force or equivalent subsidy, besides guns, munitions of war,
and
officers,
to be settled later on,
would
to
an amount and
in
numbers
be furnished from India.
The
Government was furious at Jones' success and

Malcolm's failure, and " anxious to accept the thing done
Indian
and
the
disgrace
to
doer was
ludicrous embarrassment."
was sent
thrown into a
Eventually, in 1810,
to Persia a third time,
state
of
Malcolm
accompanied by Monteith,
Lindsay (afterwards Sir Henry Lindsay-Bethune), Christie,

Willock, and other
vice,
wherein
all
who
named
officers,
those
entered the Persian serdistinguished
themselves
greatly.
1
Akti, vol.
iii.
Malcolm,
vol.
p. 496.
ii.
p. 216.
Jbid., p. 512.
Kaye,
i.
71.
180
These double missions, however anomalous, were highly

nattering to the Shah, but, not unnaturally, gave rise to
no
little
between the representatives of London

Sir Harford Jones was succeeded in 1811
friction
1
and Calcutta.
by Sir Gore Ouseley, who brought with him more officers,
including D'Arcy (afterwards DArcy-Todd), and returned
to England in 1814, leaving the treaty of Teheran to be
finally
concluded by Ellis and Morier in November of that
year.
This, the
Anglo-Persian treaty renewed the
third,
officers and men,

&c, and most gratuitously
of Russia and Persia should be
agreement as to subsidy, the supply of

of arms and munitions of war,
provided that " the limits
determined according to the admission of Great Britain,
But
Persia,
and Russia."
to the
payment of the
non-commissioned
missioned
officers
subsidy,
officers
to leave the country.
quarrels soon arose
and in 1815
in regard
all
British
were ordered by their Mission
DArcy, Hart, and some other com-
remained, and the last-named acquired
and maintained a position of extraordinary influence

Persia, until his death
by cholera in 1830.
in
Meantime the rupture between Prance and Russia in

affairs.
Eng-
1812 had materially altered the position of

land,
though
still
desirous of maintaining her friendship
with Persia, could no longer openly aid the
latter in her
disputes or conflicts with Russia, and the British officers
the
in
service
of the
part in actual warfare.
Shah were forbidden
How
to take
any
Captains Lindsay and Christie
interpreted these instructions has been seen, 3
and
it
can
1
For the unseemly conduct of all concerned the Indian Government,
Malcolm, Jones, and even the Persians see Kaye, I. iv.
1
Curzon's " Persia," i. 678-9. By a curious coincidence Macdonald, D'Arcy,
Lindsay, and Jones all took other names
Kinneir, Todd, Bethune, and
Brydges.
Ante, chap. v. p. 88, note.
181
hardly be denied that Eussia had more than once ample
ground for distrust and anger based upon the presence

and activity of English agents, avowed or unavowed, at
the Persian Court and in the ranks of the Persian army.
Nevertheless
we have
Paskievitch's
in favour of English policy.
the motives which
led
the
"I
emphatic testimony
care not to inquire into
late
commander-in-chief in
Georgia to misrepresent during ten years to H.I.M. and

the Ministry
England
our relations with
in those parts.
influence in the East,
warmly taken
But
it is
if
the English have enormous
interests of those
sought their protection, politically.
now
and even with
because they have constantly and
to heart the
correspondence,
Persia,
who have
I see by the official
before me, that since our embassage
meagre in useful results, and up to the last

was imputed as a crime to the English that they
of 1817, so
rupture,
it
sought the friendship of that one of the Shah's sons

has always shown partiality for Europeans
and
it
who
was a
matter of offence that Abbas Mirza failed to prefer ourselves,
who
refuse
him even
the
title
of heir to his father's throne,
solemnly guaranteed to him by the treaty, 1 to a nation which

supplied
him with money and arms, and with
drill his troops."
officers to
1
Abbas Mirza died at Meshed 10th October 1833, a year all but two days
before his father, Feth Ali Shah, who was succeeded by Abbas Mirza's son,
Mahmoud
(8th October 1834).

vii. 541
Paskievitch to Nesselrode, 12th May 1827. The opportunity of dealing a back-handed blow at his bUe noire Yerm61ofF was one Pas2
Akti,
For much fuller information on the subject of

Anglo-Persian relations see Rawlinson's work, already quoted, and the yet
more complete account in Kaye, I. i., iii., iv., and viii.
kievitch could never resist.
CHAPTER XII
1828
War
with Turkey Russian aims Siege and capture of Kars Of Anapa

Plague Siege and capture of Akhalkalaki March on Akhaltsikh Defeat
of Turkish relieving force
The
fact that
peace had been concluded with Persia and,
further,
that the
inspire
alarm of
Persian army was too demoralised
to
even in the event of the treaty
itself,
of Turkmentchai not being ratified, 1 relieved to some extent Russia's anxiety on the outbreak of the Turkish war
might, and did, as

that of
serious one. 2
was a
yet the situation
it
Abbas Mirza
Turkish generalship
turned out, compare unfavourably with

;
but on the other hand the Turkish
soldiery were superior to the Persian,
and more numerous
the Russian army was for the most part
still
engaged
mountainous Armenia, and could not possibly be con-
in
centrated without considerable delay at the strategic points
indicated
whole
by the new
state of affairs;
frontier, stretching
Sea and
up the coast
hostile attack.
available,
scattered.
and meantime the
from Mount Ararat
to
to the Black
Soukhoum-Kale\ lay open
For there was no
field force
to
immediately
and the Russian garrisons were weak and widely

Moreover, war with Turkey involved the nor-
thern Caucasus as well
in the west directly, for the
Turks
held the Black Sea coast; in the east indirectly, owing

1
was ratified on the 29th July 1828 under the walls of Akhalkalaki.
See Paskievitch's secret despatch to Nesselrode on the coming campaign,
26th May 1828 Akti, vii. 747.
8
Mouravi6ff s opinion Potto, IV. i. 50.
It
182

to
Turkish
over
influence
Tchetchnia and Daghestan.
Sunnite
the
population
" It allowed
and recruit the transport

horses and bullocks
of
Fortunately for the Russians,
Oriental inertness and inefficiency once more

in good stead.
183
them
to
stood
them
remount the cavalry
and more than 14,000
service,
were received from the line of the
Caucasus before a single Turkish soldier had taken the
Vast quantities of provisions were found in the
field.
."
magazines of the Persian Government.
The task
set the
whose confidence
to
in
army of the Caucasus by the Emperor,

PaskieVitch and the forces entrusted
him never wavered, was twofold
to
divert pressure
from the Danube, the seat of war in Europe,
and
to
obtain possession of such places as would round off and
make
safe
the Russian frontier in the Caucasus
Asia Minor.
to
For
make conquest
sikh,
this purpose
was deemed
it
of the pashaliks of Kars
and the maritime
fortresses of Poti
and in
sufficient
and Akhalt-
and Anapa.
To
begin with, however, the danger threatening not merely

the outlying
forts,
but Goumri,
Mingrelia, Imeritia,
and
even Georgia proper, must be met, and to this PaskieVitch
now
directed his whole energies.
troops at his disposal in Transcaucasia were in
The
all
17
51
battalions
regiments
of infantry,
of Cossacks,
total force, after
garrisoning the
squadrons of
11
and 144 guns.
cavalry,
But of
this
deducting the various items requisite for
many
provinces
between the two
seas,
and the small army (6 battalions, 2 Cossack regiments,

and 16 guns) left in Persia to ensure payment of the
war indemnity, there remained only 15 battalions of infantry,
58
guns,
squadrons of cavalry, 7 Cossack regiments, and

not counting siege
1
Monteith,
artillery,
p. 152.
available
for
the
184
main
field
army
total fighting force of
not more than
15,000 men.
"The Russian
army,"
Monteith, 1
says
mus-
"never
more than 25,000 men of all arms, and seldom

had more than 12,000 in action." To which absolute
minimum Paskievitch, having to conduct a war of invatered
sion against
most
an enemy vastly superior in numbers in a
had reduced
difficult country,
weaken
his
tended
territories
his forces rather than
base or imperil the security of Russia's ex-
and
in
beyond the
detachments operated on the two wings
separate
one along the
Two
Caucasus.
;
the
the Black Sea towards Batoum,
littoral of
the other through Armenia towards Bayazid
the main
army was concentrated, during the month of April, at
Goumri, with a small flanking column to guard the defiles
Borzhom and
of
thus
Tsalki,
with the reserves at Gori
communication
securing
and Paskievitch, having thus
taken up the strongest possible strategical position, spent
month of May
the
the south and

out
cavalry
the north, and on 14th June set
Tiflis in
40
Kars,
for
in improving the roads to Erivan in
miles
had the best of
Turks, in
Kars
full
distant.
view of that
was
at this time
attack than later on
in
less extensive, its walls
later
his
with the
less formidable as
1855 or in 1877
weaker,
its
an object of
for its lines were
whole system of defence
But
it
was, none the
a very strong position, and, properly defended, might
well be
deemed impregnable against
Paskievitch disposed
1
days
fortress.
less elaborate, its garrison smaller.

less,
Five
in a sharp skirmish
it
Page
of.
It
an army as
had defied Nadir Shah with
so small
299.
cavalry, about 3000, of whom one-third regulars, the rest

Cossacks and natives artillery, 40 field and mountain guns, besides 18 horseartillery guns
Potto, IV. i. 29.
2
Infantry, 8561

90,000
now
men
and the Russians
in 1735,
in
1807.
185
was
It
garrisoned by 11,000 men, and mounted 151 guns;
was well provisioned, and commanded, by a covered way,

an unlimited supply of water.
Moreover, Kios Pasha,
Seraskier of Erzeroum, the Turkish commander-in-chief, had
now had
nearly three
months wherein
to complete his pre-
parations, and, urging a valiant defence, he promised relief.
Paskievitch was fully aware of
all
and one cannot
this,
therefore but admire the audacity of his movements.
Not
only did he confidently undertake the siege, but, antici-
pating the attempt to relieve Kars from the south-west, and

the consequent probability of having to fight a pitched
battle beneath the walls against superior numbers,
he estab-
lished the bulk of his forces on that side of the city, astride
the road from Erzeroum.
The
siege lasted but three days in
most part in the laying of the

of the
siege
Decabrist,
guns, in
cavalry,
occupied for the
first parallel
and the placing
which operations Poushtchin, the
now promoted
showed unsurpassed
all,
skill
to the
rank of lieutenant, again
and bravery. 1
headed by the Pasha of Kars,
sortie of
failed to
5000
make any
and but few of these men regained the town.

At dawn on the 23rd the batteries of this, the first, parallel
impression,
were ready to open

besieged fortress
fire
from their twenty- six guns on the
at 10 a.m.
Kars had
wholly unforeseen result came about
is
fallen
clearly
How
be gathered from the various accounts extant, but
mains none the
less
this
enough
it
to
re-
one of the most astounding events of
the kind in military history.
In the natural course of such
1 Paskievitch on this occasion recommended him for the St. George, and
not for the first or last time ; but Nicholas was inexorable, and it was thirty
years after that this remarkable man received the coveted reward at the hands
of Alexander II.
186
a siege the enemy would have
first
been beaten back from
his outlying works, the second parallel
been
of
laid,
the main walls breached, and only after the lapse
many days would

As
taken.
would then have
the
final assault
have been under-
was, a mere skirmish in the advanced trenches
it
Armenian suburb led to an unauthorised forward movement by a company of riflemen under a

rash young lieutenant, Labeentseff. When this handful of
men was in danger of annihilation, other companies hurried
these in turn were imperilled, and more and
to the rescue
more troops thrust forward, until at last, unexpected success
against the fortified
having crowned the heroic

their
efforts of individual leaders
and
men, the commander-in-chief sanctioned the assault
on the main position.

The Turks sallied out against Labeentseff
in
ing numbers, whereupon Colonel Miklashevsky,
overwhelm-
who
after-
wards died heroically in Daghestan, hurried to the rescue with
The fight raged desperately among the

Mussulman
cemetery, but at last the Turks
a
three companies.
tombstones in
gave way, and the Russian riflemen, turning deaf ears to

the
commands and even
entreaties of
some of
their officers,
followed Labeentseff and others, and on the heels of the

flying
enemy entered the
fortified
camp on
the outlying line
of heights separated from the walls of the city by a deep

ravine.
Prince Vadbolsky, a veteran
officer
commanding
the infantry, seeing that the troops already involved must
be overwhelmed unless reinforced, and that on the other
hand a
totally
unexpected opportunity had arisen to obtain
possession of the whole Armenian suburb, ordered up Reout,

the gallant defender of Shousha, in support with five more
companies.
and having
Before, however, Reout,
coming from the
right,
to climb a precipitous hill, could reach the scene
of action, the Turks to the number of 2000 had driven the
187
greater part of the attacking force back to the cemetery,
MiklasheVsky himself with a handful of men being cut
and driven
to defend themselves in a
off
hand-to-hand fight
Vadbolsky then in
with their backs to a wall of rock.
person led the remaining companies of the Rifle Brigade

to the rescue,
and the whole of
his available forces
became
desperately engaged.
PaskieVitch,
battery,
at the
it
who had now
galloped up to the main
whence he could view the whole
scene,
was furious
premature development of the attack, threatening as
He
did to end in serious disaster.
gave vent to his
feel-
ings in no measured terms, speaking of " intrigues " and
menacing
by court-martial of the guilty
trial
parties.
Meantime, however, immediate action was necessary, and

reluctantly he
gave
permission
to
Count Simonitch
to
hurry to the assistance of Vadbolsky with three companies

of his Georgian regiment.
At
this
moment an
incident,
not without parallel in Eussian warfare, before and since,
changed the whole aspect of

of the
affairs.
The pope
Armenian regiment, holding high
or chaplain
the Cross, threw
himself in front of the fleeing riflemen, shouting, " Stop,

children
Is
me and
it
you
possible that
the Cross of our Saviour?
neither Russians nor Christians

to die
will
alone
"
The
flight
run.
was
abandon here both

If,
indeed, you are
I shall
arrested,
know how
order restored,
the Turks driven back, and MiklasheVsky saved.
Reout's
column and Vadbolsky's reserves now came up, and the

united forces, after a desperate engagement, re-occupied
the suburb.
Its chief defence, the tower of
Temirpasha,
1 Mouravi6ff is the authority for this statement, and generally for the
description of the capture of Kars as more or less accidental. He is a witness
impossible to ignore ; but it is well to bear in mind his strong animus against
Paskievitch
see Potto, vol.
iv.
chap. iv.
188
was stormed, and immediately armed with two

General
field
guns.
Gillenschmidt, chief of the artillery, established
a 6-gun battery on the heights, where, in after times, the

fort of Tchirn-tabia
was
At the same time Colonel
built.
Borodin, storming some trenches Opposite the citadel, found
emplacement
for
two more guns
and the three
batteries,
thus accidentally forming a second parallel, 1 proceeded to
bombard
at short distance the
main
walls
and
citadel of
Kars, effectually preventing the arrival of any more Turkish
The whole
reserves.
cleared,
and the
of the
Armenian suburb was then
victorious Russians, streaming
down
the
mounted the opposite height under the very walls

of the town.
Paskievitch, seeing the turn affairs had taken,
ravine,
ordered the assault of the remaining outworks, Orta-kepi
and Karadagh. Nearly the whole besieging army was now

engaged, and these positions having been stormed, the
troops, we are told, at one and the same moment, without
any command having been given, and from various points
invisible
one from the other, rushed to the
In a very short time the whole
fortress
final assault.
was
in Russian
hands, with the exception of the citadel, where the Turkish
commandant had taken
Some delay ensued, but
refuge.
after considerable negotiation the gates
at 10
the Russians marched
a.m.
in.
were opened, and
Kios Pasha, who,
with his 20,000 men, was within an hour's march of Kars,
on learning
The
its
surrender retired on Ardahan.
spoils of
war included on
this occasion 151
guns
and 33 standards; 1350 prisoners were taken, including the
Potto, IV.
Ibid., p. 69.
Paskievitch's last
those
iv. p. 65.
who do not
word was, " Quarter to those who surrender
one hour's grace to decide
"
See his
full
add that he ignores the " accidental

storming, as do Fonton and Monteith.
751.
It is only fair to
death to
account, Akti,
"
vii.
features of the
189
Pasha and his staff. The Russians lost but 400 officers
and men killed and wounded, the Turks 2000 killed and
wounded.
To
PaskieVitch's honour be
pillage or massacre.
it
was no
said that there
His proclamation ran
"
The
fortress
of Kars has fallen before the victorious arms of Russia.
The
war justify the punishment of the inhabitants

of a town taken by storm but vengeance is quite foreign
rights of
by which the Russian Emperor
to the rules
the
name
offer all
is
guided.
In
of that great sovereign I pardon the citizens, and
the inhabitants of the pashalik the high protec-
tion of Russia, promising

religion, customs,
them
inviolability in matters of
and rights of property
Paskievitch had
many
."
.
detractors, for his character
was
not such as often availed to secure the affection or respect

of his immediate subordinates,
cases with
arrogance,
brilliant qualities as
whom
suspicion,
he treated in many
and jealousy.
a leader are undeniable
But
his
he was almost
invariably successful even in the most difficult of his under-
takings
and, admitting that the storming of Kars took
place as and
when
it
did in anticipation of his plans, and
thanks to excess of zeal and even to insubordination on the

part of certain officers and men, it must not therefore be
concluded that had not his hands been forced the result
would have been
less successful,
though
it
would certainly
have been somewhat retarded.
Meantime
in the northern Caucasus success less dazzling
though hardly
efforts of
less
important had crowned the combined
Russia by land and by sea against Anapa, which,
" The author can

this may be added Monteith's emphatic testimony
from personal experience, the strict justice of Prince Paskievitch, and
the excellent discipline preserved by him in all ranks of the Russian army,
both in Persia and Turkey " op. cit., p. 167, note.
1
To
attest,
190
after
May
a siege lasting from the 7th
to the 12th June,
who had been detached

body of troops from the
army of the Danube. The co-operating fleet was commanded
by Vice-Admiral Greig.
Anapa, as we have seen, had
already more than once changed masters it was now to
surrendered to Prince Menshikoff,
for this purpose
with a
sufficient
remain in permanent possession of Russia, thus depriving
Turkey of her one stronghold in the northern Caucasus.
Her
emissaries continued for
many
a year to excite the
Tcherkess and other tribes against Russia, but she could
no longer land armies
to help
them, and their ultimate fate
was assured.
To
man
return to Paskievitch, that
to let the grass
grow under
commander was not the

his feet if
he could help
and the unexpected rapidity of his success
it;
at Kars,
coupled with the fact that he had suffered, comparatively

speaking, but trifling losses, would undoubtedly have urged
him
to
now
to be contended with,
still
difficult to
had Kars
But a new enemy had

and one more dangerous and
greater promptitude.
cope with than either Persian or Turk.

fallen
when plague made
its
Hardly
appearance in the
Russian camp, and for a time threatened to put a stop

to further campaigning.
Fortunately in this matter, too,
PaskieVitch proved himself far in advance of his age of

country.
him the
Owing to the admirable measures adopted by

made no great ravages, and on the 12th
disease
July he was able to resume his march. 1
Kios Pasha,
misled by information that the Russian objective was his
own
capital,
Erzeroum, had retreated in haste to cover that
position almost immediately after the fall of Kars,
had remained inactive ever
since.
Making a
feint in that
Again we have Monteith's personal testimony, op. (At., p. 170.

Fonton, La Rustie dans VAsie Mineure, pp. 555-8. Paris, 1840.
1
and he
And
see

direction,
PaskieVitch,
after
more northerly of two roads

of Akhalkalaki (distant
191
one day's march, took the

to
Akhaltsikh, that by
way
60 miles from Kars), as being
open to flanking movements and nearer the Russian

whence reserves would be forthcoming. Moreover,
was desirable that the last-mentioned fortress should be
less
frontier,
it
reduced and
left in
charge of a Russian garrison.
Akhal-
kalaki twenty years back had repulsed Count Gouddvitch
with heavy
Three years later KotliareVsky had

was now defended by a band of Turks,
a thousand strong, who, unhampered by women or children,
had sworn to die rather than surrender. The town itself
stormed
losses.
It
it.
was
little
still
formidable, and to take
many
better than a ruin, but the fortifications were
valuable lives.
them by storm might
PaskieVitch
cost
determined to reduce
them by bombardment, and the garrison, brave as it was,

and ready to die fighting hand to hand in defence of the
walls,
soon
became demoralised under the
terrible
fire
upon them, to which they could make no

reply.
More than half of them fled, letting themselves
down by ropes into ravines, where they were destroyed
poured
in
almost to a man.
The
Russians, led by General Osten
Sacken and Colonel Borodin, then scaled the walls by

means of the very same ropes, which had been left
and the remnant of the garrison (300 men)
dangling,
laid
down
its
arms (24th July 1 ).
small but almost
inaccessible fort, Khertviss, situated 25 versts farther on,
surrendered three days later to a score of Tartar horsemen
under Colonel Rayevsky

the
Russians
command
of
the
line
and gave
of communication
after firing three shots,
through the valley of the Kour between Ardahan and

1
Paskievitch's despatch
Ibid.,
759 (27th July).
Akti,
vii.
755 (28th July).
192
on which important stronghold PaskieVitch
Akhaltsikh,
now marched.
The pashalik of Akhaltsikh had in the days of the great
Queen Tamara, at the end of the twelfth century, formed
part of the Georgian kingdom but, overwhelmed by the
;
Tartar invasion,
been forced to
its
remaining Christian inhabitants had
apostatise,
and in the course of centuries
many sources, had developed

own hereditary rulers, famous
the population, recruited from

into a race apart, under
turbulence
for
its
and warlike
Acknowledging the
spirit.
supreme authority of the Sultan, the Pashas of Akhaltsikh

maintained a semi-independence,
nevertheless
and when
the Ottoman Porte strove to enforce a stricter allegiance,

defied its authority
and defeated
Akhaltsikh, the town and
its
armies.
fortress,
occupied an almost
impregnable position on the river Koura, and was now

garrisoned
by
their courage
10,000
and
men, who, superbly confident in
strength, refused
Kios Pasha's proffered
reinforcements, and laughed to scorn the Russian threat.
The
none the
seraskier,
assistance,
less,
prepared to move to their
and Paskie'vitch had, in any
with his forces in the coming struggle
to
case,
reckon
information, indeed,
from native sources led to the conclusion that the Turkish
army was rapidly approaching Ardahan, and

a question whether to deal with
march by the
shortest route
it
became
there beforehand or
on Akhaltsikh and,
storm the fortress before Kios could
it
arrive.
if possible,
The Russian
commander-in-chief chose as usual the bolder alternative.
The one
route,
by Ardahan, was over 100 miles
long, but
comparatively easy; the other lay over a rugged, wooded,
mountain chain without road of any kind, but the

tance
was only 40
but 8000 bayonets,
miles.
left
dis-
The Russian army, counting
Akhalkalaki on the 31st July, and,

overcoming extraordinary
difficulties
193
on the way, reached
Akhaltsikh three days later towards sunset. 1 The following day (the 4th August) salutes from the fortress announced
the arrival of the Turkish army, which encamped four miles
from the town

rivers
at the junction of the
and on the 5th a
Koura and Akhaltsikh
brilliant cavalry affair
enabled the
Russians to take up a strong position before the walls on

the eastern side of the town.
considered impregnable by
its
But with a
fortress to take
10,000 defenders on the one
and a Turkish army of 30,000 men in position to

attack him at any moment on the other, it must be conceded
side,
that the risk of something worse than defeat was indeed

great,
and that even Paskievitch's dauntless courage and
sublime
self-confidence
can never have been put to
severer test.
On
the 7th the expected reinforcements arrived from
the north, but even then the Eussian force numbered but
10,000 men, and on the 8th a council of war was called to

decide whether to remain and fight or retreat by
Borzhom
defile.
way
of the
Poushtchin, as the lowest in rank of those
present, first gave his opinion in favour of a night attack
on
the Turkish camp, and this valiant advice was unanimously,
adopted.
The
battle that ensued, lasting
from dawn
till
evening, ended in the complete rout of the Turkish army.
Kios, wounded, entered Akhaltsikh with 5000 infantry, the
Ardahan; but before this happy

consummation was reached there were moments, even after
eight hours' fighting, when the chances of battle seemed
rest fled in disorder to
Three separate Turkish attacks in

force had been beaten back, but the Russians had made
no progress and a ravine, on the possession of which all
to favour the enemy.
turned, defied every effort.

1
See Potto, IV.
i.
124,
It
was Poushtchin, once more,
where dates, however, are confused.
194
who came
dition
A hazardous reconnoitring
to the rescue.
expe-
showed him that the key to the ravine was a masked

and when this had been stormed, the Turks at
lunette,
last
gave way.
The Eussian
the valiant Korolkoff,
Akhaltsikh was
siege began.
now
losses included
30 other
left
to
its
one general,
and 500 men.

own defences, and the
officers,
Field-Marshal Paskievitch of Erivan, Prince of "Warsaw
CHAPTER
XIII
1828
Siege of Akhaltsikh
Its capture Poti capitulates Gouria occupiedPaskiecampaign Murder of GriboySdoff
vitch's plans for the second year's
Turkish attempt to recover Akhaltsikh
Akhaltsikh had three

walls,
fortress
of defence
lines
the
town,
the
and the citadel within them; and, as
hung on the
proved, the fate of all
possession of the town,
strong in itself owing to the steep and rocky nature of

site
scarred
by deep ravines
it
its
strengthened by bastions
connected by palisading 16 feet high, with a ditch on each

side
and presenting, like so many Asiatic dwelling-places,
a very labyrinth of narrow crooked streets eminently favourable for defence, eminently difficult
And
and dangerous to
attack.
town contained a population of 25,000 people, of

whom, if the Armenians and Jews, a minority, were ready to
this
Muhammadans were a fierce

men and women, on defending
favour the Russians, the native
and warlike
to
the last
property.
both
race, bent,
extremity their homes, their
They had,
lives,
and
their
too, the support of the garrison
The
the protection of the fortress.
latter
great strength, for the heights around
it
and
was not a place of
commanded
every
point of the works; but the broken nature of the ground

afforded
of
its
good cover
for determined
men, 1 and the confidence
defenders was expressed in the saying,
snatch the
moon from heaven
rather than the crescent from
We
the mosque of Akhaltsikh."

1
"You may
Monteith,
195
have Paskievitch's own
p. 213.
196
statement that the troops at his disposal numbered only

12,792 all told ; of these 3287 were required to guard the
camps, 2959 to
man
the siege batteries, leaving an assault-
and men, of whom 4016 were

infantry.
The besiegers, however, were flushed with victory;
they had stormed Kars and Akhalkalaki, they had routed
the seraskier's army of thrice their strength, and they were
ing force of only 6546
led by Mouravidff
officers
and many another hero under the eye of
Paskievitch himself.
The
Battery after
works made rapid progress.
siege
northern heights,
battery was established, mainly on the
where had stood the Turkish camp, until
all
the resources
of the besiegers were disposed to the best advantage and
The enemy,
employed in battering the unhappy town.

however, showed no signs of yielding
time pressed
reported that Kios Pasha was again advancing
it
was
and Paskie-
on the 14th August, a breach having been torn in the

palisading, decided- to storm the town the following day.
The hour chosen for the assault was 4 p.m., for Kars and
vitch
Akhalkalaki had been assailed at dawn, and the Russian

commander-in-chief knew that the vigilance of the de-
and least in
They were accustomed, moreover,
fenders of Akhaltsikh was greatest at that time
the after part of the day.

to the relief
movements in the Russian
daily at 4 p.m.,
and would therefore be
lines that took place
less
at the final preparations for the assault if
The
calculation
was a shrewd
one,
apt to take alarm
made
at that hour.
and the audacious decision
to storm such a stronghold with greatly inferior
numbers
in
the full glare of a southern summer's day was justified by the

result.
The Turks were taken by
surprise,
and the Shirvan
regiment, to which the honour of leading the attack had
been given, overwhelming one of the bastions, broke through

the breach in the palisading and was soon engaged in the

town
197
Here the key of the position was an ancient

Christian church, and round this sacred structure, on the
itself.
anniversary of the Blessed Virgin's Assumption, specially
chosen for this bloody attempt, the battle raged furiously
between her votaries and the worshippers of Allah.
by
little
the Russians gained on the defenders
brought up and placed in position
when
already setting in
at
church was taken,
blood stained and heaped with dying and dead.
oncoming darkness began
as
neighbouring buildings caught
guns were
but the evening was
the
last
Little
Then
some
to hinder the attack

fire,
just
and, the flames spread-
ing rapidly, fighting went on with unabated fury throughout
The
this night of horrors.
young men and
inhabitants,
old,
defended their wretched houses with the energy of despair
women threw
themselves into the blazing ruins of their
homes rather than fall into the hands of the Giaours; in

one mosque 400 men were burnt alive.
The Russian
soldiery, as usual when exasperated by a stubborn defence,
showed little mercy, and, above all, to the deserters of their
own
race,
who were
Paskidvitch
states
women was
spared.
present in considerable numbers; but
that nevertheless
was only
It
at
the
honour of the
dawn on
the 16th that
the town was at last fully occupied; the ruins were

burning, but resistance had ceased
be stated
that,
and, in justice,
it
still
must
according to our authorities, the victorious
troops
" natural " kindness of heart, help-
ing
to places of shelter
is
now showed their

women and children
cruelty, that
instances such as
is
safety.
It
so often the unpleasant duty of the historian to record
their savage
all
and
who know
this
it
when
is
a relief to bring forward
possible;
the fact being, as
the Russians are aware, that their nature
compounded of the most opposite
good-humoured in the extreme
at
qualities.
ordinary times,
Quiet,
when
198
roused they are as brutal and merciless as any race on

earth.
With
the whole town in the hands of the Russians,
enabling them to bring
all their artillery to
bear at point-
blank range on the walls of the fortress, the latter became
and on the 17th August Kios surrendered on the

condition wisely and humanely agreed to by PaskieVitch,
that he and the 4000 of his own men left him should be
allowed to withdraw with their arms and property. So fell
untenable
Akhaltsikh, which had witnessed the defeat of Gouddvitch
and discomfiture of Tormazoff, and for more than three

1
centuries had maintained itself inviolate.
The Russian loss included 62 officers and over 600 men.
The defenders lost some 6000 in killed land wounded, of
whom 100 were women. The Imperial Library at St.
Petersburg was again enriched by the addition of priceless
manuscripts.
5000 men
"
The Turkish loss amounted to not less than

Of 400 artillery only 50 remained; of the 100
Janissaries the chief alone; of
1800 Lazes 1300 were
killed,
and of the inhabitants 3000." 2
The capture
of Akhaltsikh excited the highest admira-
Monteith writes
tion on all sides.
"
Thus
much
fell this
hitherto
unconquered
city,
courage of
inhabitants as for the atrocities committed by
its
celebrated
as
for
the dauntless
them, and for their inveterate habits of slave-dealing and

plunder.
The
siege of the place,
which
had
at
it
last
and the assault under
succumbed, are
scarcely to be surpassed, indeed,
very remarkable,
by any recorded in history;
and the boldness and talent of Prince Paskievitch were on

this occasion eminently conspicuous and well worthy the
study of every military man." 8
1
See Paskievitch's report, Akti,

Monteith, p. 210.
viii. p.
3
763.
Page
211.

was next necessary
It
the
Ardahan and Atskhour
a castle commanding the passage of the Borzhom
latter,
Koura, surrendered the day after Akhalt-
defile of the river
former
the
sikh,
to take
199
on
22nd August, both without
the
Bayazid was entered on the 27th by Tchavt-
fighting.
chavadze, prince and poet, 1
who by the middle
of September
had occupied the whole pashalik of that name, encountering

hardly any resistance.
"The banners
peror,
As Paskievitch wrote
to the
Em-
of your Majesty float over the head-
waters of the Euphrates."
The Russians
were, in fact, only
60 miles from Erzeroum, but for various reasons
it
was
impossible to continue the campaign, and the army went
winter quarters.
into
Far to the west, meantime, yet
another important success had been attained with heavy

loss,
due almost entirely to sickness.
Poti capitulated after
a three weeks' blockade on the 15th June.
but
fighting
little
bourhood
is
There had been
the fever, however, for which that neigh-
so notorious, carried off
some 1800 men, the
greater part after the return to Koutais.
On
the last day of September a Russian expedition
entered Gouria, and occupied that turbulent country with-
out trouble or fighting.
The
war,
so far,
had proved a
brilliant
success
for
Russia, and Paskievitch in the south, Menshikoff in the

north,
had already more than
in so far as
it
fulfilled
the Tsar's programme
related to the Caucasus.
But the enemy,
though beaten, was not yet cowed, and a second campaign

was called for, to secure what had already been won, and to
Griboyedoff wrote to Paskievitch on the 30th October 1828 from Tabriz:
father-in-law (Tchavtchavadze) has made prizes in Bayazid of some
oriental manuscripts. Pray do not send them to the Imperial Library, where
there is no one who can do more than read and write (if that), but to the
Academy of Sciences, where Professors (Christian Martin von) Frahn and
Senkovski will make the best use of this acquisition for the world of learning "
1
"
My
Akti,
viii.
770.
200
keep up the pressure in Asia Minor so important to the
army of the Danube. To make this the more effectual, it

would now be necessary to advance to Erzeroum at least,
and PaskieVitch, urged by the Emperor to make the second
campaign
decisive, resolved in his
mind a plan
of action
which the capture of that important city would be but

a step by the way. He would then march on Sivas, and
through Tokat to Samsoun on the Black Sea coast, whence,
in
in co-operation with the
fleet,
he could threaten even Scutari
But in order to make possible an advance such as

Kurds must be won over, and the army increased
by some 6000 to 8000 Russian infantry of the line, to be
landed at Poti and marched through Kouta'is, Akhaltsikh,
and Ardahan. If it were deemed necessary to reduce Trebizond it must be done by sea, and the expeditionary corps
should number at least 10,000 men. In any case a naval
demonstration was necessary in order to keep at home the
itself.
this the
warlike Lazes and the regular troops of the pashalik of

Trebizond,
while
in
the
event
of any advance beyond
Erzeroum, the co-operation of the
fleet
would be no
less
indispensable.
The army would march on Erzeroum in two columns,

moving by way of Toprak Kale" and Kars respectively, with
Hassan Kala as the point of junction.
Later, in mid- July, if all went well, it might be possible
to undertake a further advance towards the Turkish capital,
1000 miles distant from Erzeroum, but there being no

wheeled roads communicating with the seashore
long way,
it
would be necessary either to occupy in strength
the principal points along the line of march,
involve the
all that
which would
employment of a great many more men, or the
army must abandon
entirely its bases in Georgia
Eussia proper, a proceeding
of
which the
and in
danger was

"However,
obvious.
if
circumstances allowed
it,
201
there
was much to be said for an advance to Sivas, 235 miles

from Erzeroum, through which ran almost the only roads
between Constantinople, Diarbekir, and Bagdad, so that all
the Asiatic provinces (of Turkey) would be cut in two, or
nearly so.
Between Sivas and Diarbekir lie the most
important of the Turkish
silver and copper mines, the

capture of which would deprive the Porte of a considerable
revenue.
"But
I venture to repeat that so distant a
can be undertaken only when the ranks are
made
our
left
us,
and when Van and Moush
flank
is
secure
movement
when
filled up,
by the Kurds taking
sides with
we have
To protect our
Trebizond, we must make
are occupied, or
acquired political influence over them.

right flank against the troops of
a strong diversion by sea." 1
The Emperor could
spare no reinforcements for the
Caucasus beyond the 20,000 raw recruits who would be
due there in the course of the summer of 1829, too late

2
to take part in the advance on Erzeroum, and though
the Kurds were
in
appearance
won
over,
their
fidelity
could never be counted on for more than the briefest
Meantime events took place which

a time threatened most serious consequences
at
period in advance.
for
Teheran,
the slaughter
sador and suite;

1
of
the
Russian
at Akhaltsikh, the
special
ambas-
sudden approach of
viii.
Paskievitch to the Emperor, 21st November 1828.
Paskievitch wrote to the Emperor (21st November) that the recruits took
Akti,
a whole month to cover the distance between Stavropol and Tiflis. Two months
was the minimum requisite for drilling them into some semblance of soldiers,
and distributing them as required. If, as in 1827, they only reached Stavropol
from the interior of Russia in March, they could not be available for fighting
purposes before July at the earliest. Meantime he could count on no more
than 16,883 all told for his field army (12,837 bayonets, 3100 sabres, and 966
artillerymen, serving 68 guns)
Akti,
vii.
770.
202
a Turkish army bent on recovering that important strong-
The former untoward event threatened
hold.
bring
to
about a renewal of the war with Persia; the latter made

it
necessary to undertake a winter expedition for the relief
of the Russian garrison, thus interrupting the preparations

for the
coming campaign, the success of which would have
been gravely imperilled by the
loss of
Akhaltsikh.
Griboyddoff, the author of G6rie ot Ournd, 1 had been
attached to Yermdloff's
immortal comedy had
pany
at Erivan in
staff in
diplomatic capacity, and his
first
been played by an amateur com-
1827.
Paskievitch, fully appreciating
and character, had continued to employ him,

autumn of 1828, after a journey to St. Petersburg, he had been sent to Persia on a special mission with
a view to hastening the payment of the war indemnity
his abilities
and
in the
and the due execution of other terms of the Turkmentchai

treaty.
At the end
of February 1829, having conducted
the negotiations with Abbas Mirza at Tabriz to a

factory conclusion,
and made a ceremonial
visit
satis-
to
the
Shah at Teheran, where he was received with much honour,

he was on the very point of leaving that capital on the
return journey
when
in
an outbreak of popular violence
the whole Russian mission, with the exception of Maltsoff,

the secretary, was barbarously destroyed.
massacre
is
as simple as
it
is
stirring
elsewhere than in Griboye'doff's

its origin,
own
The
story of the
nor need
we seek
tactless conduct for
notwithstanding the vile insinuations of English
complicity, voiced by Paskievitch in ignorance,
and repeated
by living Russian historians in full possession of the truth.
" Grief from wit."

Potto, III. iv. 619. A detailed account of the massacre is to be found
in Blackwood's Magazine, September 1830, No. 171.
' The assertion that Paskievitch believed in English complicity is based
on nothing more than the following passage in his letter to Nesselrode of the

By
the convention of Turkmentchai Persia, as
seen, agreed not to hinder the emigration of those
who
opted for Russia.
On
for
more than
we have
Armenians
the eve of Griboyedoff' s depar-
ture a certain Mirza-Yakoub, a
had
203
fifteen years
eunuch of that
race,
who
been employed as treasurer
in the Shah's harem, expressed his desire to leave Teheran
The latter, after some

and Yakoub took up his quarters
in the ambassador's train.

tion,
consented,
hesita-
at the
23rd February 1829, written in great perturbation of mind, long before he

had received any authentic account of the tragic occurrence " In ignorance
of the true circumstances and drawing various inferences, one may suppose
that the English were not altogether foreign to participation in the disorders that broke out in Teheran (though, perhaps, they did not foresee the
fatal results)."
Griboyedoff himself had written to Paskievitch so recently as
" Macdonald
the 30th November 1828 (Akti, vii. 660)
avec lequel nous
vivons dans la plus grande intimite, car en prive c'est l'homme le plus loyal
et le plus estimable que j'ai rencontre depuis longtemps." After the murder
Macdonald wrote to Paskievitch from Tabriz " Poor Madame Griboyedoff (a
daughter of Prince Tchavtchavadze, and only just married) is still ignorant
of the irreparable loss she has suffered by the death of the most amiable and
affectionate of husbands. She is at present living with us, and your Excellency
and her afflicted parents may rest assured that she will receive every care and
attention" (ibid., 671, 8th February). A little later Paskievitch's suspicions
had dwindled. Writing to Nesselrode on the 9th March he says " The English
mission in Persia has at all events observed all outward decency since the
unfortunate affair of Griboyedoff. Macdonald's care for Maltsoff's safety and
return to our borders does him great honour, and in my letter to him I have
expressed my sincere gratitude." Again on the 15th "In Tabriz all is very
quiet, Russian subjects are very well treated, and Macdonald, to whose care
they were entrusted by Amburger (Russian Consul-General) on leaving, takes
the greatest interest in them " (ibid., 682). It was not until the 18th March
that Paskievitch at last received Maltsoff's full report of the occurrence, and
from that moment we hear nothing more of " English participation." Nesselrode in his instructions to Prince Dolgoroukoff (5th April 1829), Special Envoy
to the Shah, writes: "The influence of the British mission in Persia has
remained favourable to us, as previously, since the treaty of Turkmentchai,
In view
in the conclusion of which, as you know, it did us good service.
of our existing political agreement with England and of Macdonald's high
"
personal character, it may be hoped that this state of things will continue
" Since the
Finally, Dolgoroukoff wrote (28th November 1830)
(ibid., 693).
:
death of Macdonald, who was a very well-intentioned man, &c. &c." (ibid., 731).
There is thus abundant evidence, even on the Russian side, that this British
soldier and minister was a man not only of the highest honour and integrity,
but of the kindest nature. Sir John Macdonald Kinneir, to give him his full
name and title, died of cholera the same day as Major Hart in June 1830.
204
Embassy.
all,
Mussulman
the
is
secrets of which, above
inordinately jealous.
had taken a
Yakoub's house
as if one of his wives
Griboye'doff sent to
property,
The
The Shah's indignation knew no bounds.
was in possession of those
fugitive
Feth
Ali's
farrashi made
It
was almost
similar step.
When
to fetch his personal
their appearance
and
away the already laden mules. Every means of persuasion was used to induce the Kussian to abandon his
purpose, but threats and entreaties were alike vain, and
rushing blindly on his fate he further demanded the surrender of two captive Armenian women from the harem
of Alii Yar Khan, one of the chief notables, and an irreWorse still, the women, sent
concilable enemy of Russia.
led
to the Russian mission for purposes of identification only,
were forcibly detained.

patience.
This
filled
Instigated, possibly,
the measure of Persian

in the land, 1
by the highest
the chief moullas and other spiritual leaders proceeded

to inflame the
Roused
mob from
the pulpits and in the streets.
to fury, the people rose in thousands,
and on the
30th January 1829, attacking the house where the mission

was lodged, overwhelmed the small Cossack guard, and,
in spite of the most desperate resistance, massacred it
and all others within. Yakoub was the first to perish.
.
Griboye'doff fell sword in hand,
and
his body, treated with
every contumely, was dragged about the streets for three

days.
Thirty-seven Russians perished in
all,
and Maltsoff
alone found shelter and safety in the house of a friendly
Persian
the Legation was pillaged and destroyed. 2
Griboy^doff's body, only recognised by a

1
wound
received
Monteith emphatically denies Feth Ali's participation (p. 227). Probably,

however, he did instigate, or at least approve of, the attack on Yakoub without
intending harm to the Russian mission.
2
The above account is taken mainly from Maltsoff 's report to Paskievitch
of the 18th March 1829
Akti, vii. 688.
:

in a duel
sent to
some years
Tiflis.
and has
left
before,
was afterwards recovered and
Poushkin met
it
on his way to Erzeroum,
us the following strange reflections
nothing happier or more enviable than the

stormy
life.
unequal
Death
fight,
itself,
last
"I know
days of his
coming in the heat of a
was neither
terrible
Poutieshestvie v
Amrowm.
gallant,
nor wearisome, but, on
the contrary, sudden and beautiful."

1
205
Works, 3rd
ed., vol. v. p. 285.
CHAPTER XIV
1829
Danger of war with Persia

Abbas Mirza sends his son to St.
Petersburg Plague at Akhaltsikh Russian victory at Digour March
on Erzeroum Crossing of the Saganloug Defeat of the Seraskier Of
Haghki Hassan-Kala taken Brzeroum occupied Poushkin Baibourt
Death of Bourtseff Paskievitch's victoryPeace of Adrianople Unnecessary bloodshed Hesse's repulse Migration of 90,000 Armenians
Paskievitch Persian and Turkish troops
Akhaltsikh relieved
Hesse's
victory at Limani
Paskievitch's successful diplomacy
The attempt
to
possession
recover
the Russians by surprise
of Akhaltsikh
they had not given the Turks
credit for the spirit of enterprise requisite to such
taking, nor could they foresee

struck.
took
by
whom
an under-
the blow would be
In pursuance of a policy dictated by the numerical
weakness of his own army, Paskievitch had striven hard to

seduce from their natural allegiance the Mussulman tribes
inhabiting the newly conquered districts or their immediate
neighbourhood, and amongst them the Adjars, a warlike
and numerous people, whose homes lay

itself.
close to Akhaltsikh
Their chief had entered, readily, into negotiations,
and had expressed with seeming sincerity his willingness to

accept for himself and his people Russian sovereignty.
But
either
side
he was playing
was too
great,
false or the pressure
from the other
and on the 21st February 1829 he
suddenly appeared before Akhaltsikh with an army or horde

estimated at 15,000 men, occupied the town which had so
recently been the scene of Russian triumph, butchered the
Christian inhabitants, and after a vain attempt at storming,
blockaded Prince B^boutoff and his small garrison in the

208
207
and citadel. A siege ensued lasting twelve days,

during which the defenders suffered some loss and much
fortress
on the approach of a small body of men
privation; but
under Bourtseff, who with great hardihood forced the

Borzhom defile and advanced to the attack without waiting
for the
main
relieving force
coming from Ardahan under
Mouravi6ff, the undisciplined Adjars broke and fled, anxious
only to secure the booty plundered at Akhaltsikh from
Mussulman
Christian and
alike.
At the same time 1200 Russians under General Hesse\

together with some 1500 Gourians, attacked and destroyed
a large body of Turks occupying a fortified
camp
at
Limani
on the shores of the Black Sea, to the south of Poti; a
much to save Gouria from invasion, and

noteworthy for the gallant part played by the Gourians
victory that did
themselves,
who
so recently as the siege of Poti
not for but against the Russians.
had fought
This twofold success of the Russian arms relieved for

the
moment
PaskieVitch's most pressing anxieties, but left
him, none the
more
face to face with a situation graver,
than had occurred in Transcaucasia since
critical,
1812.
less,
Trustworthy information showed that the seraskier
was employed
making preparations on a
the renewal of the war in spring. 8
The
1
Akti,
Ibid.
vii.
778
in
Paskievitch's report to the
Emperor
large scale for

forces
at the
of 15th March.
* Paskievitch to Nesselrode, 27th February:

Akti, vii. 675. He writes
that the Turks are collecting 100,000 men, that the Persians are in communication with the Sirdar at Erzeroum, and he demands urgently a reinforcement of one division of infantry, &c. Four days earlier he had written (ibid.,
673), "with the present number of troops in Transcaucasia it is quite impossible
to begin a new war against Persia. ... I have not enough even to act against
the Turks with full confidence of success.'' And on the 30th March, again
speaking of the impossibility of waging war against Turkey and Persia at once,
he declares that in that case Daghestan would
rise,
and
it
would be
for the Russians to maintain themselves at all in Transcaucasia (ibid.,
difficult
I
208
Russian commander-in-chief's disposal could not reasonably be held more than adequate to cope with the Turkish
army
in the field while containing the turbulent tribesmen
of the Caucasus proper.

Persia seemed inevitable,
of the Georgian militia,

itself,
led,
Yet a renewal of the war with

and, to crown all, the calling out
a measure wise and natural in
thanks to pedantic regulations and a singular
disregard of native susceptibilities, for which Paskievitch
himself can hardly be blamed, to widespread disorders, and

threatened not merely to defeat the end in view, but to
To
involve the whole country in armed rebellion.

successfully with
stances
such a concurrence of hostile circum-
demanded not only
we have
seen, Paskievitch
military genius, with which, as
was
plentifully
rare combination of courage, tact,
without astonishment that

displaying
when
deal
we
endowed, but a
and energy
find
this
and
it is
not
arrogant soldier
necessity arises the suppleness
and
restraint
of a trained diplomatist, the moderation and firmness of a
born administrator. 1
At any other time such an outrage as the murder of

Griboy^doff would have demanded and ensured exemplary
punishment. The Russians would have marched on Tabriz,
and, failing complete satisfaction, on Teheran itself. Now,
however, no such movement could be undertaken without
compromising the coming campaign against
Turkey and even endangering not only the frontier proseriously
vinces in that direction, but Georgia
itself.
None
the less
Paskievitch made, as far as possible, all the dispositions

called for
by such an eventuality, knowing well that the
war he was so eager
to avoid
hung
in the balance,
and that
1
His diplomatic qualities, it is true, had already been shown to some
advantage at Constantinople during the abortive peace negotiations after
Tilsit (1807).
209
diplomatic action alone would not in any case suffice to

avert
Feth
it.
either redress or apology,
the Porte at this time
and
alliance,
showed no inclination
Ali, indeed,
and
it
can hardly be doubted that
made strenuous
who
it,
one-half
Luckily, in Abbas Mirza
appreciated more fully than his
father did the danger of such a course,
meant ruin
efforts to secure his
so neutralise, to say the least of
of Russia's available strength.
Paskievitch found one
to offer
who
to himself if not to his country
Tabriz, lay close to the Russian frontier
realised that
it
for his capital,
his fair province
of Azerbijan marched with the Russian possessions; and,
whatever success he might hope for in the
initial stage of
the war, recent and most bitter experience told
him
that in
the long run Russia would once more prove victorious,

the brunt of her vengeance would
position, however,
was one of extreme
for opposition to his father
when
upon him.
fall
difficulty
His
and danger
and the war party
at
Teheran
might involve him, personally, in consequences more immediate and no

their
less disastrous
than would compliance with
Thus embarrassed, he
wishes.
applied secretly to
Paskievitch for advice, and the latter to a verbal message
by a trusty Armenian
delivered
worded
less
to
work upon
replied, in
his personal fears
a letter aptly
and ambitions no
than on his patriotism, suggesting as the only means of
averting
war the despatch
of one of his brothers or one of
his sons to St. Petersburg

conciliation.
To
this
on a mission of excuse and
Abbas Mirza gave
re-
his consent without
waiting for the Shah's approval, his decision being hastened
by the threatening concentration of Russian troops on the

Persian frontier. But the negotiations had taken time, and
was only towards the end of April that Khosroff Mirza

reached Tiflis ; nor was it until the Persian prince was well
it
The text
of the letter is
given by Fonton in
full, p.
405.
210
on his way to the north that Paskievitch at
meantime
last,
troublesome Georgians,
having
felt justi-
once more turning his attention to the Turkish
in
fied
the
pacified
campaign.
had meantime been renewed, and this time

by the Kurds, who raided certain villages on Russian
Hostilities
but were pursued and defeated on their retreat
territory,
and deprived of
their booty.
Akhaltsikh, where the sorelywas now being decimated by the plague,
was again threatened by Akhmet Bek and his adjars,
and again relieved by Bourtseff after a difficult march
and a somewhat hazardous night attack at Tsourtskabi.
tried garrison
The
frontier district
was now completely devastated, and
any forward movement of the Turkish army thereby rendered
with
the
seraskier,
and
difficulties
ready.
The
practicable.
less
for
initiative,
Paskievitch,
above
dangers
nevertheless,
hampered by the
was not
described,
Moreover, the Persian frontier even
watching in
lay
force, since little reliance could
now
yet
required
be placed on
a ruler of so unstable a character as Peth Ali; and this

necessitated
serious
mander-in-chiefs
modifications
original
plan
the Russian
in
of
com-
He had
campaign.
intended to march against the enemy from two sides
from Kars and from Bayazid, with Erzeroum as his main

objective.
But Bayazid
and could no longer
On
Turkey.
the
lay close to the Persian frontier,
serve as a base for operations against
contrary, its
own
situation
called
for
defensive measures, and in the sequel, this far-away stronghold, being completely isolated,
was besieged by the Pasha
of Van, and only held out until relieved, thanks to the

heroic and stubborn defence of the garrison under Generals
1
Popoff and Panyoutin.
Paskievitch to the Emperor, 14th July
Akti,
vii.
806.

By
defiles
the middle of May, while the mountain passes and
were
deep in snow, the Turkish advance de-
still
An army
clared itself in various directions.
Kiaghi Bek,
the
211
the
master
seraskier's
approached Ardahan, but, headed
off
corps under
of
the horse,
by MouraviofFs column,
retreated into the impenetrable fastnesses of Adjaria
and
The advance guard of the

main Turkish army under Osman Pasha crossed the Saganloug mountains and debouched on Akh-Boulakh, while
the Pasha of Van marched on Bayazid. Thus the Eussian
centre and both flanks were threatened at once.
Paskiethe
hastened
to
front,
and
reached
Akhalkalaki
vitch now
on the 19th May. Twelve days later, having ordered Mouthence threatened Akhaltsikh.
ravioff to join BourtsefF
he
left for
with his whole division at Digour,
Kars accompanied by the Neezhni-Novgorod
dragoons, some Cossacks, and two and a half battalions
of infantry, with fourteen guns
hold two days
later,
x
;
the 1st June, added to his
On
General PankratiefFs division.
him
and reaching that strong-
of the total defeat of the Kiaghi
forces of Mouravioff
This, the
first
was due mainly
and Bourtseff
command
the 5th news reached
Bek by
the combined
at Digour.
great success of an astounding campaign,

to
Bourtseff's
promptitude and energy.
That commander was absent at this juncture on a punitive expedition in the Sandjak of Koblian with a small
part only of his forces, three companies of the
Kherson
200 Cossacks and 4 guns, and Paskievitch's

messenger conveying the order for the junction with Mouravioff, finding his way already barred by the enemy,
regiment,
succeeded in delivering his despatches only after serious

But
delay, a delay that might well have proved fatal.
Bourtseff, grasping at once the critical position in
1
Paskievitch's report to the
Emperor Akti,
:
vii.
788.
which
212
Mouravidff might find himself with the kiaghi's army to

face and without the expected reinforcements, sent on the
whole of the men with him
at a
moment's notice under
Colonel Hoffmann, and himself galloped back to Akhaltsikh to bring up the rest of his troops.
Digour
at midnight, reached
ing, to find that the
Hoffmann, starting
at ten o'clock the next
morn-
Turks had already debouched from
whereupon straddling the little river

of that name he withstood, from noon to 3 p.m., the
onslaughts of 6000 Turks, some of whom even penetrated
the Russian square, though only to be beaten back with
the Potskhoff
heavy
Soon afterwards Bourtseff came up with two
loss.
battalions,
defile,
and almost simultaneously Mouravi6ff's advanced

The Turks
its appearance from the south.
guard made
retreated to their camp,
and
finally
where next day they were attacked
routed after a desperate battle, in which a
Mussulman irregular
The Turkish
cavalry so recently organised by Paskievitch.
loss in killed alone was 1200 men out of a total of 15,000
engaged. The Russians lost only 8 officers and 60 men killed
and wounded. The Turkish camp with all impedimenta fell
part
decisive
into the
was played by the
hands of the
was an unfinished
victors,
letter
and amongst the kiaghi's papers
beginning with the words,
"As
write this the Russians, totally defeated, are in full flight
The
right
I
"
!
wing of the Russians having now become
completely disengaged,
forces with the
Mouravi6ff
main army
and Bourtseff joined
in front of Kars,
and on the
13th June Paskievitch began his march on Erzeroum at
men (12,340
With such a force,
the head of an army numbering some 18,000

bayonets,
vastly as
5785
it
cavalry,
70 guns).
was outnumbered by the enemy, a commander-
in-chief of PaskieVitch's calibre
might well
feel confident
of success against the brave but undisciplined
and badly-

Yet the undertaking was
led Turks.
at best
213
an arduous
and any mistake might prove fatal.

The main Turkish army lay at Hassan Kala; an advanced corps of 20,000 men under Haghki Pasha held a
one,
well-nigh impregnable position at Milli-diouz, on the north-
mountain chain, commanding
east edge of the Saganloug
the Medjinghert road, one of two leading from Kars to
Hassan KaM. PaskieVitch with his usual daring determined to advance by the other road leading to Zevin and
take Haghki in the
superior in
rear,
thus cutting off his retreat but
own army between two
putting his
numbers
ceived, vastly so.
his
camp by
the
seraskier.
one, according
He would
storm,
1
then
hostile
forces
each
to all information re-
upon Haghki, take
fall
destroy his army, and turn to face
Owing
to
circumstances which no
one
could have foreseen, the sequence of events was reversed
but the result in the end was the same.
The hazardous
nature of such an undertaking was sufficiently obvious,
though the actual extent of the danger
became apparent when

out of
all
question.
retreat without fighting
left
only
was already
Breaking camp on the 13th June
towards evening, PaskieVitch,
on his
incurred
after
detaching
flank along the Medjinghert road to
Bourtseff
mask
his
movements, advanced by night with the main army by

the Zevin road, and, covering a distance of 26 miles (39
versts), over
forest
and
rugged mountains
still
partly
clothed
dense
under snow, succeeded in reaching, unob-
served, a position in rear of the Turkish
was
in
the Saganloug without
camp, where he
The Russians thus
rejoined by Bourtseff.
crossed
a feat compared by General
loss,
2
Monteith to Napoleon's passage of the Alps.
Haghki,
who had succeeded
Salegh,
Monteith,
op.
cit.,
p. 247.
Kios.
Akti, vii.
Paskievitch to the Emperor, 19th June.
214
much
to
his
had taken
astonishment,
place,
next morning what
realised
but knowing that
approaching from Hassan Kala with 30,000

holding that his
forward with
own
and
men,
position was impregnable, he looked
grim complacency to the
what must have seemed

in truth the fortified
was
the seraskier
camp
him a
to
final
fatal
result
of
strategy.
And
on
closer
at Milli-diouz proved
inspection to be so well defended by the triple range of
snow-clad
artillery,
and deep, stony ravines impassable
hills
which
lay
between
for
and the Russian army,
it
Erzeroum and even

him, was unwilling to
that PaskieVitch, with the capture of
more ambitious projects before
heavy losses that must inevitably attend
incur the
storming from the position he had
whole days (the 15th to
now
reached.
were
17th June)
its
Three
spent in a
careful examination of the vicinity before this conclusion
was
definitely
baggage
camp.
and
arrived
at,
during which
ammunition
train
was
time the huge
safely
brought
to
It was then decided to continue the turning move-
ment towards the south and east, so as to reach a more

favourable position, though this would involve, owing to
the difficult nature of the ground, a detour of more than
But before the march was resumed an
thirty miles.
affair took place of happy omen for the success of the
campaign. Information was brought that a body of the
enemy detached by Haghki, and numbering, as it afterwards proved, 1600 men, had taken possession of a strong
natural position commanding the road to Erzeroum. A
sufficient force of horse, foot, and artillery was sent to
dislodge them, while
still
their retreat to Milli-diouz.
victory for
stronger detachment cut off
The
the Russians, and
result
again,
as
was a complete
at
Digour,
an
important part was played by Paskievitch's newly-formed

Mussulman
cavalry,
religionists
so
difficulty in
as
on
so
who
saving the lives of any.
of the Caucasus,
have been
its
On
officers
had
occasion,
this
the long wars for the conquest
upon us that
of Allah formed a stronger bond of
the reflection
religion
unity amongst
with their co-
ferociously that the Eussian
many throughout
had the
indeed,
dealt,
215
is
forced
adherents, the success of Eussia would
at least doubtful.
More than 300 of the Turkish infantry were cut to

pieces
many others were taken prisoners but Osman
;
Pasha, their commander, with most of the cavalry, succeeded in effecting his escape. 1
A reconnaissance
carried
now
along the Erzeroum road
utmost importance.
by Mouravioff but a short way

led to a discovery of the
The head of the Eussian column
soon came in contact with a body of Turkish cavalry
sotnia of Cossacks, pushing on, caught sight of the white

tents of regular infantry
a scout sent forward under pro-
mises of a large reward brought back news
that they
belonged to the advance guard of the seraskier's army.

Mouravioff, acting under orders, returned to camp.
Next day, the 18th June, Paskievitch, undeterred, resumed his march. During the past three days he had each
morning occupied the heights overlooking Haghki's camp
To screen his turning movement from the pasha's
in force.
observation the same manoeuvre was now again made use
of,
the troops employed being six battalions of infantry, a
Cossack brigade, and twenty guns,

of General Pankratieff.
was sent forward

left flank,
At
all
under the
command
the same time a smaller force
to screen the front, as Pankratieff did the
of the advancing army.
When, towards midday,
the latter was at last in motion, Paskievitch, turning to his

1
Akti,
vii.
Paski^vitch's report.
216
suite,
exclaimed
the cable and
"
Now my army
am making
Owing
for the
is
like a ship
open
I have cut
no return
sea, leaving
and dangers of the

road only 10 versts (6^ miles) were made that day, and
towards night Pankratieff, having fulfilled his mission,
rejoined the main army, of which next day his column
possible."
to the narrowness
formed the rear-guard, MouravidfFs the advance.

Russians made their way down
Khan
the
defile
As the
on the
morning of the 19th they came in touch with the enemy's

pickets, and it soon became evident that a battle was imminent.
Information was wanting as to the nature and
now
composition of the hostile forces, and even
Paskievitch
them to form part of Haghki's army. As a matter

of fact he had in front of him the seraskier himself with
12,000 men, and no sooner had Mouravidff's column debouched in the valley and formed front, than the Turkish
cavalry in their thousands rushed to the attack.
The
Russian infantry deployed, the guns unlimbered, and a
believed
heavy
fire
so cooled the courage of the assailants that the
contest in this part of the field took,
and thereafter main-
But on the left wing

Bourtseff, with only the Kherson regiment and twelve guns,
isolated and without reserves, had to bear the brunt of an
from 5000 to 6000
attack by overwhelming numbers
cavalry from the camp at Milli-diouz, backed by as many
more from the main Turkish army.
For some interminable moments Paskievitch and his staff held their breaths.
tained, the
form of an
artillery duel.
It
seemed impossible that the Russian square should
vive such an onslaught, but

rolled
away
when
Bourtseff's little force
to
make
smoke of the guns
was seen
Turkish cavalry already far away.
moment
the
sur-
to
be
intact,
the
Paskievitch seized the
a decisive attack on the enemy's centre,
which had gathered opposite the Russian
left
flank beyond
217
The movement was completely

the Turkish centre was broken, the Turkish left
off and thrown back against the mountains.
Both
the river Zaghin-kala-sou.

successful
wing cut
fled in disorder to the village of Kainli
But meantime the
reserves.
sort
under cover of their
seraskier's right
wing
in con-
with Haghki's cavalry made another desperate attempt
overwhelm
Once more the Russian square

held firm, but the Turks had already taken it in the rear,
and were making havoc of the pack-train and ammunition
to
when
reserves,
Bourtseff.
help arrived in the shape of two Cossack
regiments despatched in
haste by Pankr&tieff.
Almost
simultaneously a relief column under Baron Osten-Sacken
made
its
appearance from the opposite direction, and the
enemy, threatened on both
The
battle
it
sides,
turned and
fled.
seemed was at an end, and
it
being
now
had been given to bivouac on the banks

when news arrived which changed at
once the whole aspect of affairs. It became known that
the Turkish commander-in-chief had had no intention of
five o'clock, orders
of the Kai'nli-tchai,
giving battle that day.

nent, he
itself so
No
better informed than his oppo-
had no idea that the Russian
force that thrust
unexpectedly between him and Haghki Pasha was
Paskievitch's whole army.
He had summoned
only the
cavalry from Milli-diouz, and the major portion of his

forces
own
18,000 menwere but now approaching Zevin, one
march away. He was engaged in entrenching himself on

the wooded hills, there to await the rest of the army, and
intended next day, supported by Haghki's 20,000 men, to
offer decisive battle.
This was precisely what Paskievitch
had meant to avoid; the combined Turkish forces would

outnumber him by three to one, and even victory in such
circumstances might be won at a cost that would compromise, if not altogether frustrate, his advance on Erzeroum
218
and beyond.
no time
to
to
be
The moment was a

lost
make a night
one
attack on the Turkish camp.
o'clock all the dispositions were
expected nothing
critical
there
was
and the decision was immediately taken
less,
made
By
seven
the enemy,
finding himself attacked in front
who
and
outflanked on both sides, offered hardly any resistance, but

fled in disorder, hotly
pursued by the Eussian cavalry for
20 miles.
At Zevin were gathered 18,000 men who
had taken no part in the fighting, but the arrival of the
fugitives and the stories they told of Eussian numbers and
prowess struck panic, and they also beat a hasty
retreat.
Thus, unexpectedly, the 19th of June saw the complete

persal of the seraskier's
army
dis-
the key to Milli-diouz was
hands of the Eussians, and Haghki and his army

doomed.
in the
After the fatigues of such a day
it
might have been ex-
pected that Paskievitch would grant some respite to his
But such was not his view. No

commander was ever more imbued with the determination
to strike while the iron was hot.
Worn with fatigue, he
troops and to himself.
nevertheless spent the
first
hours of the night in making
arrangements for the attack on Milli-diouz next morning,

and amongst his victorious troops there were none to question the wisdom of his decision, none to murmur at the
burdens laid upon them.
At dawn on the 20th Paskievitch, having divided his

army into five columns, himself led one directly against the
enemy's camp, while a second took it in flank, and the
other three occupied all roads by which escape might be
attempted. Before midday Haghki himself was a prisoner,
his
20,000
men
dispersed
in full flight
neighbouring country, save some 2000
and 1200 who were taken
prisoners.
throughout the
who
The
fell
fighting,
victory
was

decisive
219
19 guns and 12 standards were among the spoils

Haghki's army no longer existed, and the Russians could
pursue their way to Erzeroum without fear of attack from
;
flank or rear. 1
But the great majority of these 20,000 men

had escaped, thanks to Osten-Sacken's blundering conduct
of the pursuit.
The
come up with
the flying enemy, though eminently favoured by the line of
retreat,
regular cavalry failed to
and only the native horsemen again distinguished

Paskievitch was bitterly disappointed, and
themselves. 8
Osten-Sacken, after an inquiry insisted on by himself, was

severely reprimanded and relieved of his
army had covered a distance
command.
The
of 37 miles in 25 hours,
and
numbering in all 50,000 men.

Next day, the 21st June, the Russian army set forward
on its way to Erzeroum, and passing Hassan Kala, which,
in spite of its strength, offered no resistance, on the 26th
reached the gates of the great city, and on the 27th, the
totally defeated hostile forces
anniversary of Poltava, the cowardice of the citizens having

paralysed his measures for defence, the seraskier capitulated
with
all
his
men.
capital of Anatolia,
soldiers
its
gates for at least five centuries, and amongst
who
participated in the triumphant entry, though in
within
those
The Russians entered unopposed the

which had not seen Christian
the quality of a mere spectator, was the poet Poushkin. 3

1
word
"
Paskievitch's report to the Emperor, 23rd June, wherein, however, not a

is
said of Osten-Sacken's failure
Akti,
vii.
792.
Paskievitch draws the Emperor's special attention to this fact
" In
all
the fighting they behaved most valiantly. They were to the front in every
attack, and threw themselves with gallant determination even on the enemy's
infantry. The greater part of the guns, colours, and prisoners were taken by
them.''
And Monteith
(p.
300) writes
"
A body of
in the Russian ranks, all these being people
Circassians also appeared
who a few months before had been

but who had been gained over by
and the bitter enemies of Russia,

the just, kind, and liberal conduct of the Russian commander."
" The well-known
* The following is too characteristic to be omitted
writer of poetry, retired 10th Class Tchinovnik Al. Poushkin, left St. Petersburg in March for Tiflis, and by imperial command he is under secret surin revolt
220
" In fourteen days the troops of your Imperial Majesty had,

since passing the
limit of last year's conquests,
from
i.e.
13th June, crossed two lofty mountain ranges,
the
still
partly covered with snow; destroyed the Turkish army;
captured two camps and the fortress of Hassan Kala, so
important a place in this country

his
all
field
an end
to
abandon
citadel
siege.
self,
artillery
and parks; and, having thus put
all possibility
fortress
him
of resistance, compelled
centre of his power in the
to us the
and
taken from the enemy
East
to
which might have withstood the longest
Finally, they
had taken prisoners the seraskier him-
commander-in-chief of the Turkish army and ruler of
all Asiatic
The
Turkey, as well as his four senior pashas."
further progress of the campaign
may be summed
up in a few words. Bourtseff with a small column occupied

on the 7th July, without opposition, Baibourt, 2 80 miles
on the way to Trebizond, while PaskieVitch at Erzeroum
gathered his strength for the contemplated
Sivas.
But
twelve
days
in
later,
advance on
an abortive
attack
on the neighbouring village of Kart, Bourtseff, one of the

bravest and most successful of Paskievitch's subordinates,
fell
13
mortally wounded, and

other
wounded.
officers
the
Russian losses included
and more than 300 men
killed
and
This unfortunate reverse raised once more the
hopes of the Turks, and added greatly to the
difficulties
veillance, of which, by order of General PaskieVitch, I have the honour to

inform your excellency, most respectfully begging you to take without fail
the requisite measures for establishing the said surveillance on Poushkin's
Akti, vii. p. 954 Major-General Baron Osten-Sacken to
arrival in Georgia."
General Adjutant Strekaloff, 12th May 1829.
Poushkin followed the army to Erzeroum by Paskievitch's express permission, but the authorities in St. Petersburg were not a little disturbed
at the fact.
1
Paskievitch's report to the Emperor, 28th
Beyond
June Akti, vii. 802.

was impassable for wheeled
:
this fortress the road to Trebizond
Baibourt was necessary to the Russians to protect their right flank

on the march towards Sivas.
vehicles.

of PaskieVitch's position, though
it
221
abated not a jot his
determination to carry out his plan of campaign.
Pre-
ceding his main body to Baibourt, on
its arrival he took

and destroyed Kart (28th July), at the same time routing
a considerable body of troops gathered in the neighbourhood
by Osman Pasha, 1 a very brilliant performance.
The road to Sivas lay open, but disquieting news received

from many quarters as to the gathering of hostile forces in
his rear on either flank forced even PaskieVitch to abandon
for the present
He made
any such distant movement.
demonstration in that direction nearly as far as Kara Hissar,
250
from Erzeroum, and led a reconnaissance in
versts
person far enough along the road to Trebizond to prove

its
impracticable nature, and the hopelessness of attempting
win over the warlike Lazes; but, autumn approaching, he withdrew the army to Erzeroum after blowing up
Baibourt, thus ending a campaign of which the troubles
and failures of the last few weeks somewhat dimmed the
glory of its initial stages.
Yet in the course of four
to
months PaskieVitch's army had
350 miles of
traversed
hostile country, one of the strongest in the world
beaten
and dispersed an enemy's force of at least 80,000 men

with 200 pieces of cannon; killed some 10,000, taken
prisoners
two
5000 men
commanders-in-chief and
not
less
than
entered Erzeroum, and captured 262 cannons,
65 standards, 10 banners, and the seraskier's baton.
On
the 2nd September 1829 was concluded the treaty
of Adrianople,
but
the news
took nearly a month to
reach Paskievitch at Erzeroum, and during that interval
much blood was shed
2
unnecessarily at Baibourt and else-
Paskievitch's report to the Emperor, 28th July 1829 Akti, vii. 810.
Paskievitch himself led his troops to Baibourt once more in consequence
He retook
of large gatherings of the enemy calling for decided measures.
that place on the 26th September, gaining a brilliant victory over the Turks,
1
who
lost
800 killed and 1200 prisoners.
222
where. 1
The
war, however, was at an end.
Early in October
homeward march, and
the troops began their
for a quarter
of a century peace reigned between Russia and Turkey.
now
Paskievitch,
forty-seven
was received
of age,
years
in St. Petersburg with extraordinary honours, but of all
war in and beyond the
Russia's conquests in the present
Caucasus, nothing was retained but Anapa, Poti, Akhal-
and a part of the pashalik of Akhaltsikh, including

the town and fortress of that name.
Even Kars and
kalaki,
Ardahan were restored
and the
Turkey,
to
safety
of
Georgia was sacrificed to the exigencies of European

In 1855 and 1877 Paskievitch's work had to
politics.
be done again, and once again.
But
if,
territorially,
Russia profited
by Paskie-
little
vitch's conquests, in the matter of population
it
was quite
In a despatch dated the 4th December 1828
otherwise.
Nesselrode had asked Paskievitch to bear in mind the
winning over the Christian population of
desirability of
the conquered provinces, with a view to furthering the

colonisation
Paskievitch,
and other
of Imeritia, Mingrelia,
who knew
readily agreed
to
in
fall
in favour of retaining
the
with
Nesselrode's
a very large
frontier line
and
that of to-day s
the disabilities of those countries,
portion
he aimed
suggestion,
He was
though with quite other ends in view.

territory
districts.
at
strongly
of Turkish
was
practically
in a despatch to the Emperor of the
11th January 1829 he wrote:
"We
can defeat the enemy
On the 17th September General Hesse lost 600 killed and wounded in an
abortive attempt on a small fortress, Tsikhis-dsiri, on the edge of the sea.
1
Paskievitch's report to the Emperor, 14th
town and whole pashalik
of
after the conclusion of peace
bloodshed
Fonton,
November: Akti,
829.
The
but there was
little
Colonel Reout likewise

resistance and hardly any
p. 532.
Akti,
'
Paskievitch to Nesselrode, 26th July 1828
vii.
vii.
Moush were occupied by
772.
to the Emperor, 3rd
June 1829
Akti,
vii.
787.
Akti,
vii.
757.
Paskievitch

by the help of our troops
we can
223
only retain our con-
quests by inspiring confidence in the population."
From
motives of policy, then, he encouraged to the utmost the

very natural hopes and aspirations of the Armenians of
Turkey, with the result that the end of the war saw these
Muham-
unfortunate people utterly compromised with their
madan neighbours and
and doomed,
masters,
mercy, to a cruel and relentless persecution.
if left at their
Paskievitch's
humanity is beyond all doubt it distinguished him, indeed,

most honourably from the majority of great Russian com;
manders, and on the present occasion
it
was conspicuously
Employed by Nicholas I. some years previously

do justice in the affair of some hundreds of rebellious
displayed.
to
peasants at Lipetsk, PaskieVitch pleaded for mercy, saying,
"to show humanity and sympathy has never yet done

harm," and now, knowing
urged against such a policy, he
ments that might be

obtained
nevertheless
him on
take with
remain
and
well the weighty argu-
full
permission
his
retreat
from the Emperor to
all
those
who
feared
to
further, to distribute to the necessitous the
unspent, and by far the greater, portion of the 100,000

tchervontsi
for
(c.
300,000 roubles) which had been assigned
payment of the Kurds, on the supposition that
numbers of them would take
He was
large
service with the Russians.
soon embarrassed by the multitude of would-be
Armenian population en masse,

but he could not bear to leave any of them to Turkish
refugees,
practically the
An
vengeance.
money
Emigration Committee was
Turkish frontier
women, and
it
children, fleeing " the
Akti,
The number has been variously

says
appointed,
and when his army recrossed the

was accompanied by some 90,000 men,
lavishly spent,
vii.
wrath
to
come."
775.
" It
is
given.
Lynch
(" Armenia," vol.
ii.
p. 206,
generally supposed that not less than 60,000 Armenians,
224
The campaigns
differ
of PaskieVitch beyond the
Caucasus
from those of his predecessors by reason of the
extent of country traversed, the
number of
troops employed,
on the Turkish side, the admirable discipline

and good conduct of the Russian soldiery, but, above all,
by the uncommon measure of success attained. To inquire
especially
more particularly
would take
those who would
into the causes of this success
us beyond the scope of the present work
do so may be referred to the volumes already quoted
may be
briefly, it
due, in .the
sound as
tactics,
first
said that the field-marshal's victories were
place, not to the soundness of his strategy,
was, nor to the novelty and brilliance of his
it
but to the unusual care he bestowed on the pre-
parations for a campaign, which enabled him,

right
but,
moment came,
military
genius,
rapidity.
and
to
give full play to his
strike
when
the
audacious
with the utmost force
and
Speaking of the Turkish war, Monteith says
"Thanks
to
the
excellent
arrangements that had been
made, the army was well supplied with provisions, and

the strength of the troops had never been overtasked by
unnecessary haste, even

call for
it.
when
circumstances appeared to
Arrangements having once been completed, no
subsequent delays ever took place, nor did the troops suffer
by those
irregular exertions
which often ruin an army, or
tend to retard rather than expedite
its
movements.
The
numerical strength of the army employed in the conquest

headed by their bishop, accompanied the retirement of Paskievitch's army."
Monteith says 90,000 (p. 300), Paskievitch the same, but explains that the
figures are only known accurately as to families, of which there were 14,044,
including 7298 from the pashalik of Brzeroum (Paskievitch's despatch to the
Emperor: Akti, vii. 845). For further information see the reports of the
Emigration Committee (ibid., 833, 843, 847, &c.)
1
Fonton, 537-545. It was to Paskievitch that the Archduke Charles wrote
"
faut savoir transiger avec les principes."
II
2
For Paskievitch's arrangements
re
commissariat, hospitals, artillery, and
engineers, see Fonton, pp. 254, 257, 258, and 260 respectively.
Zongmaivs, Greav
3t Co.,
London,, Tfewlark,
Bombay & Calcutta-.
GEORGE
PHILIP
& SON f?
Zonffmana, Green, &
Co-,
Zondon.. TfcwJork,
Bombay &Cak
225
of Erzeroum was not half what the service required, yet,
through the genius of Prince Paskievitch,

to a glorious termination."
it
was brought
In after years, during the Polish insurrection (1831-32),

the Hungarian campaign (1849), and the initial stages of
the Crimean war, he displayed, though ever successful, what

his detractors were pleased to call
whereby
it is
held that his military fame was to some extent
He was
dimmed.
an exaggerated caution,
severely contused
walls of Silistria (27th
the command-in- chief.
May
He
by a
1854), and
shell
had
died two years
under the
to retire
from
In en-
later.
deavouring to form an impartial estimate of his character,
endowments, and exploits, it must never be forgotten that,

thanks to the enmity existing between him and Yermdloff,
dating from so far back as 1815, he has always been treated
with gross injustice by the
M. Berge,
latter's
many
worshippers.
Thus
editor of the valuable series of State papers so
frequently cited in the present work, 2 in his introduction to

vol. vii. (p. 11) writes
of Paskievitch's
own
"Without
entering into the questions
part in the happy issue of those events
which happened during his time in the Caucasus, we will

say in conclusion that with the good order in which the
'
country found
itself
after
Yermdloff,
and that
spirit
of
Catherine and of Souvdroff by which Paskievitch found

the soldiers inspired,
it
was easy
to reap laurels'
so,
at
Count Diebitsch expressed himself to General Sabanewhom he met on the Line when returning from Georgia
Russia." To which the retort is obvious " If it was
least,
yeff,
into
easy to
in 1826-27,
reap laurels
did not Yermdloff
But Diebitsch was no well-wisher
do so himself?"
Paskievitch, and
why
it
is
conjectured that, as already stated,
he would willingly have taken Yermdloffs place himself.

1
Monteith,
to
p. 300.
Akti, &c.
226
The same
writer 1
Turkey ended happily
"The war with
says:
for us,
Persia
and
thanks to the excellent
dis-
cipline imparted to the troops
and
officers
same prejudice
is
by YermolofF, and
to the
And
so well chosen by him."
officials
the
very noticeable in other Russian writers
on the Caucasus.
To quote Monteith once more, 2 an important witness

who accompanied the Russian army in 1828-29, " General
Paskievitch possessed an instinctive knowledge of character,
whom he
and he completely trusted those
his attention to the civil administration

gable,
and he put a stop
to the abuses
disgraced and ruined Russian affairs.
and
had
class
own
free access to
him
he was
indefati-
which had
Men
In
employed.
so long
of every rank
they might bring their
and be sure of having justice quickly
interpreter,
was deeply felt in Georgia, which

he was rapidly getting into order, and he had nearly sucHis
administered.
loss
ceeded in bringing the tribes of the Caucasus into pacific

relations with
portion
the Russian Government by employing a
of their troops
government
internal
the
often heard from his
own
only system
lips,
of policy,
their
as
that he thought likely to
."
succeed.
To
and not interfering with
this,
of course, YermolofF s admirers will never agree,
and unfortunately the matter is one which can now never

But in view of Paskievitch's success in winning
be proved.
over the populations of the provinces on both sides of the

border,
his successful
employment of native
and
troops,
the fact that during the whole period of the Persian and
Turkish wars the northern tribes remained tranquil, a
state
of things Paskievitch attributed directly to his policy of

non-interference,
1
Akti,
viii. p.
xxi.
it
may
!
at least be permitted to enter a

Monteith, 301.
Akti,
viii.
340.
227
caveat against the dogmatic assertions of the Yermdloff
arms alone could bring about the
school, that force of
submission of the mountaineers.

Paskievitch's personal character, no doubt,
had some-
thing to do with the dislike he inspired in certain quarters.
Monteith
hasty,
us that, " In his outward deportment he was
tells
and sometimes even
violent,
fashionable piece of affectation
which appears
among Eussian
to
be a
officers
perhaps from a desire of imitating the eccentricities of

Souv6roff; but in his actions PaskieVitch was as remarkable for his cool deliberation as for the rapid execution
of whatever he had decided upon.
It
on Charles
(reversing the epigram
has been said of him
II.),
that he seldom said
a wise thing, and never did a foolish one."
To go
back, for a moment, to the Persian and Turkish
campaigns,
said.
it is
obvious that the last word has not yet been
Taking into consideration
the case
the
all
the circumstances of
comparatively small numbers of the Eussian
troops, the distance
from their real base in Eussia proper
and munitions of war had all,

come from the European provinces
the very great difficulties presented by the
for reinforcements, supplies,

to
a great extent, to
of the
Empire
physical nature of the theatre of the wars, the turbulent,

unsettled,
and even rebellious character of the population
of the Caucasus
finally,
itself,
both Christian and Mussulman, and,
the fact that the plague broke out twice during two
years in the
army
amount
and endurance
itself
of talent, or
it
must be acknowledged that no
even genius, in the leader, of courage
in the troops
under his command, could
have availed to bring the two great
Muhammadan Powers
successively to their knees in so brief a period
had they not
been weakened abnormally by internal causes, had their

'
Monteith, 303.
228
armies, in short, been such as even in those days might be
expected.
Now
the Persian army contained excellent raw material
in the sturdy Tartars of Azerbijan, the fierce hillmen of
Kermanshah, and many
others, but
lacked nearly every-
it
thing else that makes for efficiency in the
field.
Some
of
the Persian regular troops had been drilled and organised

successively
by French and English
contemptible before,
British guns
officers.
had recently been
and British gunners.
The
artillery,
strengthened by
But, strange as
it
may
seem, the effort to impart European discipline to the Persian
army had not only failed altogether of its purpose, but had
actually had the contrary effect. 1 In the words of Sir Henry
Rawlinson,, " in presenting Persia with the boon of a socalled regular army,
in
order to reclaim her from
unlawful loves with France,

Nessus."
raw
levies,
The
we
rest of the army, ill-paid,
unaccustomed to any
her
clothed her in the robe of
was made up of
discipline, belonging,
many
of them, to semi-independent khanates, and unwilling to

serve for
more than a few months
On
at a time.
the
approach of winter they expected to be disbanded and

return to their homes, and
them they took French
when
leave.
enough, but the subordinate

to their Russian opponents,
sionally displayed
direction of the
As
no
little
it
was sought
to detain
The men were brave
officers
were greatly
inferior
and though Abbas Mirza occacapacity as a leader, the higher
war was, as a
rule, greatly defective.
to the Turkish army, the
same
deficiencies existed,
and the same
criticisms hold good; besides which the

Kurds, Adjars, and other warlike tribes were ever a doubtful quantity.
Then, too, the allegiance of some of the
See the weighty evidence to this very remarkable

Ourzon " Persia," vol. i. pp. 579 et seq.
* " England and Russia in the East,"
p. 31.
1
fact collected
by Lord
229
upon them, " their lands had

been resumed by the Government, no substitute had been
great feudal beys sat lightly
provided for their perfectly trained
and they were
horse,
really
more
and well-appointed
inclined
to join
the
enemy than to take service under the Government from

which they had received such affronts and injuries," x while
those pashas who had already been defeated feared the
bowstring, and were, likewise, willing to take service with
their conquerors.
Thus on the 11th January 1829 Paskievitch wrote to the Emperor that the Pashas of Kars and
of Bayazid, being prisoners in his camp, sought permission
march against the Turks in the coming campaign while

Moustafa, who had been second in command of the Turkish
to
army before Akhaltsikh, promised
to
come
in at the
first
opportunity.
But
was a very special reason

the janissaries had
for the weakness of the Turkish army
just been destroyed (1826), and the newly formed rdzam,
apart from all this, there
or regular infantry, were not yet qualified to take their
place
" the
satisfied,
new
levies
were incomplete in number,
and undisciplined."
dis-
Yet with all allowances and deductions, the campaigns

of 1826-29 must ever remain memorable in military annals,
nor can they fail to confer lasting fame on PaskieVitch
himself and the army he commanded.
1
Monteith, 154.
Ibid.
PART
II
THE MURID WAR

CHAPTER XV
Muridism
feuds
Kazi
Adat
Moulla Shamil Development of the movement Bloodand Shariat Number of Murids General signification of
Murid and Muridism
The
in
defeat,
Powers
left
of
succession,
Russia free
for
the
many
two
years
Muhammadan
to
devote
the
whole of her military strength in the Caucasus to the

subjugation of the mountain tribes.
Persia never again
ventured to oppose her in arms; Turkey, not until 1854;
and the Crimean war, in so
far as
concerned the Caucasus,
served to hasten rather than to retard Russia's final triumph.
From
the treaty of Adrianople onward the conquest of the
Caucasus means the conquest of Daghestan and Tchetchnia,

and of the country of the western tribes and as the present
;
work, for reasons already given, concerns itself hardly at

all
with the desultory warfare waged, with varying success,
against the last-named until their final defeat

triation
and expa-
in 1864, the remaining chapters will be devoted
almost exclusively to the narrative of the long struggle
known, owing
to the religious spirit
Murid war.
native leaders, as the
imparted to
And
three parts
by the
to begin with, let
meant by Murid and Muridism.

According to Mussulman mystics Islam
us see what
it
is
Shariat
Hakikat (= the Truth)
the Law), Tarikat
the
230
consists
of
the Path),
one worldly, the other two

spiritual
231
the one for the necessities of ordinary people,
who would
the others for those
other words,
the Shariat
Mussulman law
lead the higher
In
life.
the whole body of written
is
as delivered in the
Koran by Muhammad
the Tarikat, the Path leading to the knowledge of the Most
High, to be learnt from the Prophet's

knowledge,
in
when
life
and deeds, which
fully attained, is called in Arabic Marifat,
Persian Danish
Hakikat, though by some authors
accorded a place between Tarikat and Marifat,
is
generally
acknowledged as on the highest plane of
It
may
all.
also
be said that Shariat represents the words, Tarikat the deeds,
Hakikat the
qualities of
Muhammad. 1
The Shariat was
introduced into Daghestan by the Arab conquerors in the

eighth century, but here, as in other parts of the Caucasus,
failed signally to displace the Adats, or
customary law of
the mountain tribes, which will be reverted to later on.
There are several systems to explain the Tarikat, each

with
its
followers, but four principal ones, supposed to be
derived from the
first
who received them

them from God so that all
four Khalifas,
from Muhammad, who received
originated from one source,
and that the Highest, and
lead to one end, which end
is
to be attained
prayer and the renunciation of worldly good.
He
the Persian poet, goes farther.

this
that
is,
attained
Divinity.
one
to
who
has ceased to
immortality
...
by
live for
the
by constant
Moulla Jami,
writes:
means acquires the knowledge of God
is
"He who
by
called Wali,
himself and has
contemplation
If thou desirest to
all
reach
of
the
the rank
of
Wali, renounce the good things of both worlds (this and

the
World
to
come),
and make thyself
free
to
receive
worthily the love toward God."

1 Aziz-Ibn-Muhammad-Bas&fi in the "Maksadi Aksa," part ii., folio
quoted by General KhanikofF, Sbornik Gazeti Kavkaz (1847), i. 139.
4, as
232
All these
practice,
and
systems differ
much one from another
in
their respective followers are often at daggers
Each system or sect is divided into Orders, of

1
The
which the members are Murids, the head a Murshid.
drawn.
latter is
one who has reached perfection, and he alone can
put his disciples on the right Path
without his blessing
neither prayer, nor fasting, nor almsgiving, nor renunciation
Every Murshid has several Khalifas
can avail to Salvation.
who have made more
or Murids
perfection
these attend to the spiritual development of
the ordinary members.

is
or less progress towards
Khalifa
who
attains perfection
consecrated by his Murshid as Shaykh or Murshid in
and returns to his native place or goes elsewhere to

found a new Order. Each Murshid is succeeded at death
turn,
by one of
dictum that there

supposed to have
Murids
In spite of Muhammad's express
his Khalifas.
live
is
no monkery in Islam, each Order
its
khankah
or
is
monastery, where the
on the offerings of the pious, though this has
never been the case in Daghestan, where, however,
all
the
members of these Orders had to be unmarried men, or such

Moulla Jami writes in
as had renounced their families.
"
the
first
Sufi
was
Abu Hashim, who
the
Nafahat " that
the second, Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri (died
died a.h. 161
the third, Junayd, who died a.h. 297, and is
a.h. 245)
buried at the village of Hazri, in the province of Baku.
It
was Junayd's contemporary, Shibli, who first openly preached
;
Sufi'ism or Muridism, but until the fifth century after the
Flight the mystics were looked on askance, and sometimes

Murshid ="one who shows" the way; Murid ="one who desires,'' i.e.
The religious education of a Murid consisted in a course
of prayer and study divided into five sections, representing successively the
Adam, Abraham,
spiritual teaching and influence of the five great Prophets
Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad religious evolution being a fundamental idea
1
to find the way.
in Sufi'ism.

by
persecuted
Mansur
(al
those
in
Hallaj " the
Thus
authority.
wool-carder
233
Husayn-ibn-
Junayd's pupil,
"),
was scourged with a thousand stripes, mutilated, and his

body burned by the Vizier of the Khalifa Muktadir at
Bagdad.
Tradition
several times " I
am
says
that his severed head repeated
God," and that the drops of his blood
formed the same words on the ground where they
From
or
fell.
the fifth century (after the Flight), however, Sufi'ism
Muridism acquired great
of the greatest
influence,
Persian poets,
but
and not only many
many
of that
rulers
country were Sufis.

It seems, therefore, that, strictly speaking,
Muridism and
Sufi'ism are one, and that the mystic teaching found
way
at a very early period to the Caucasus,
firmly established in
the
Shemakha and Gheok-tchai

Baku.
It
presence
prefix
where
province of Shirvan,
districts
it
its
became
now
the
of the province of
was possibly introduced by the Arabs, whose
is still
attested
by many names of places with the
"Arab," as Arab-Shamlee, Arab-Kadim, &c, where
the people to
this
day are noted for their dark skins,
guttural pronunciation, and by their occupation as breeders

of camels, though they
now speak
the Turkish or Tartar
In the ninth century of the Hijra
dialect of Azerbijan.
the Sayyid Yahyd,, a pupil of Sadru'd-dm, lived at

great favour with the
still
existing,
Shah of Shirvan, who
at that place.
Yahya"
is
Baku
in
built the palace,
said to have
had
10,000 Murids under him, and to have spread his teaching

But on the extinction of the Shirvan-Shah
far and wide.
dynasty in 1538 the country became the scene of frequent
struggles
between the Turks and the Persians, Shiites and
Sunnites, which lasted
up
to the Russian invasion, while
1
The oldest and most authentic accounts of him are to be found collected
in Professor Browne's " Literary History of Persia," vol. i.
234
from time to time the mountaineers came down and harried

In
the country of one or other sect with strict impartiality.

these circumstances Sufi'ism seems to have lost
its influence,
and we
find
celebrity
amongst the Shaykhs of Shirvan, not indeed until
during this long period no names of any
Ismail Efendi at the end of the eighteenth century
made
Shirvan once more the centre of Tarikat teaching, of the

sect
known
as
Bukhara (died
Nakshabandi, founded by
Muhammad
of
Ismail Efendi was forced by the
a.h. 791).
Russians to emigrate to Turkey; his chief disciples were

exiled to the interior of Russia;
down
and Muridism quieted
in Shirvan, only, however, to reappear in Daghestan,
was transplanted by one of his followers, another

Muhammad of Bukhara, and accepted by Moulla Muhamwhither
mad
it
of Yaraghl, a village in the Kioureen
joined to
nature.
district,
a political character quite foreign to
it
Moulla
Muhammad may
name
the great struggle for

inhabitants
movement
of Muridism, united for a time in
freedom a majority of the Mussulman
of Daghestan and Tchetchnia;
but he never
took upon himself the actual leadership, and
counted by some as the

properly to Moulla
its real
therefore justly be con-
sidered as the founder of the politico-religious
which, under the
who
first
Imam.
Muhammad
This
is
wrongly
title
of Ghimree, better
belongs
known
Kazi (Ghazi) Moulla, who was succeeded in turn by

Hamzad Bek and by Shamil.
as
Such, in
movement we
brief,
were the religious antecedents of the
are investigating
a rapid retrospect of the
1 For Moulld Muhammad and his connection with Muridism,

see memoir
by Captain Prouzhanovsky, Sbornik Oax^ti Kavkaz (1847), ii. 22.
2
A good deal of the above will be found collected in an article on
Muridism in the Caucasus by Mahmoudbekoff in vol. xxiv. (1898) of the
Sbornik Materialoff dlia opisania miettnostei ee piemen Kavkaza.
The reader who
wishes to know more of Sufi'ism than is contained in the above very imperfect
235
history of Kussia's early relations with Daghestan will give
the clue to
We
its political origin.
have seen that Kussia a century back had tempo-
Daghestan
rarily acquired possession of the
abandoned
it
Empress Anne.
in the reign of the
Shamkhal of Tarkou, the Koumuik
the
but had
littoral,
In 1786
ruler of north-east
Daghestan, voluntarily accepted Eussian sovereignty, and a
few years
Khan
example was followed by the
later his
of
Mekhtoulee, whose dominions lay between the free communities of Darghee and Koisoubou on the south and west,
and those of Tarkou on the east and north.
In 1796 the Eussian army under Zduboff, marching

against Persia, once more obtained possession of the Caspian
shore,
and Eussia, taking advantage of the dissensions and
jealousies obtaining
amongst the petty
rulers
Daghestan, gradually, with small means and
made good her

Artillery
was
and
tribes of
little fighting,
footing in the greater part of that country.
was quite new
so great that a
to the mountaineers,
and
its
round or two of grape-shot often
to put to flight their
most numerous hordes.
rulers of the various khanates
and
free
effect
sufficed
The
petty
communities were
in turn induced to swear allegiance to Eussia, and when, as

invariably happened, they or their subjects after a while
attempted to regain their independence, the cry of treachery

was raised; Eussian troops marched against them; they
were beaten in the
field,
villages ruthlessly sacked.
and
On
their principal
towns or
the capture of Derbend, in
1796, neighbouring Tabassaran had submitted; in 1803,

account is referred to the special works on the subject. Also to Brown's
"Oriental Spiritualism" (or The Dervish Orders of the Turkish Empire) Professor E. G. Browne's "Literary History of Persia"; E. A. Nicholson's
"Literary History of Arabia," and the Introduction to the last-mentioned
author's " Selected Odes from the Divan-i-Shams-i-Tabriz " (Cambridge University Press). Also see Whinfield's Gulshan-i-Rdss (" Eose Garden of Mystery,"
;
text and translation).
236
Avaria, the most important of the khanates of Daghestan

in 1806 the khanates of
annexed
Baku and Koubd were permanently
by the
in 1813,
treaty of Gulistan Persia formally
recognised Russia's right not only to these but to

others. 1
many
In 1819 several of the more important free com-
munities of Daghestan 2 acknowledged Russian suzerainty
Khan
in 1820 the
Kazi-Koumoukh
of
instigated a rising
amongst his neighbours, but was beaten at Khozrek, his

capital taken, and his khanate incorporated with Kioureen.
community
Finally, in 1824, the
or confederacy of Koisou-
bou, including Ghimree, gave hostages for good conduct.
Thus
in little
more than a quarter of a century the greater
part of Daghestan, as well as the provinces immediately to
the south of
were absorbed by Russia.
it,
The means em-
ployed were not highly moral, but probably a close parallel
might be drawn with the conquest of India proceeding con-
and
shown, we must remember that Russia was
temporaneously, and,
little
good faith
then only half
civilised,
great cruelty were exercised
her opponents almost wholly bar-
Russia's great advantage lay in her
barous.
government,
of
if
with the
that
existence
autocratic
of serfdom,
ranks of her armies at
will,
power
own
which,
enabled her to
system
coupled
fill
and, yet more important, to
secure her conquests by a vast system of land settlement
the Cossack principle of military tenure.
was too poor and too rugged
for the
Daghestan
Russian immigrant,
indeed accompanied
The khanates
of
the plough followed the sword, often

it;
and a
solid
and permanent base
Derbend, Kioureen, Talish, Shekeen, Shirvan, and
Karabagh.
2
sea,
Cossack stanitsas occupied and guarded the broad
belt of fertile land
on
itself
but at the northern foot of the mountains, from sea to

lines of
the
Akoushd or Darghee, Siourgheen, Bougoul, and Koubatcb.ee.

was furnished
for
287
for the outlying posts in the mountains, or
any farther advance that might become necessary.
Thus the
religious revival in
Daghestan coincided with
the Russian conquest; the infidel neighbour became the

foreign
oppressor,
and
the desire for spiritual refor-
to
mation was added the yet stronger desire for temporal

liberty.
The
Russians,
moreover,
made
the
cardinal
mistake of confirming and supporting with their moral

prestige,
and by
force
when
of arms
necessary,
those
native rulers who, in reliance on such backing, oppressed
more than ever their unhappy subjects. They drew down

on themselves in this way not only their own full share
of obloquy as tyrants-in-chief, but much of the odium
directly incurred by the khans and beys and other petty
chieftains of feudal Daghestan.
The law of Muhammad,
on the other hand, proclaimed equality for all Mussulmans,
rich and poor alike
the new teaching was therefore
essentially popular, and from this time onward Muridism
was a political movement grafted upon one in itself
purely religious. Both were perfectly genuine and, on
the whole, perhaps of equal force, though Russians are,
naturally enough, apt to dwell rather on the latter characteristic, foreign writers, equally naturally, on the former.
;
To
these
by
still
it is
an heroic struggle for freedom,

considerations
loftier
religious
fanaticism,
for
to
those
intensified
an outbreak of
which the cry against Russia's
mild and beneficent rule was a mere excuse. 1

ligious revival
had
originally nothing political in
The
it,
re-
and
1
So Omdrofl", in the preface to his translation of an Arabic treatise on
Muridism, in Sbornik Sviedenii o Kavkazskikh Gortsahh, vol. iv. (Tiflis, 1870),
says, " Patriotic and national feelings were far in the background."
2
As Count Gobineau has well said, " Si l'on separe la doctrine religieuse de
la necessite politique qui souvent a parle et agi en son nom, il n'est pas de religion plus tolerante, on pourrait presque dire plus indifferente sur la foi des
hommes que
l'Islam."
Ed. Paris, 1866.
Les Religions
et les
Philosophies dans I'Asie Centrale, p. 24.
238
throughout the long war there were many Murids, " of the
who took no
Tarikat,"
and though
part in the fighting,
sometimes respected for
and godliness,
learning
their
were looked on with disfavour by those " of the Ghaafterwards called " of the
zavat,"
lieutenants,
whose main
the loss of
in
difficulty
it
and Moulla
liberty,
"
from Shamil's
became more and more

was closely followed by
object
But
independence.
political
Naibs
Muhammad
found
new
persuading numbers that the
no
doctrine
was quite compatible with the ordinary Mussulman teaching, which focussed in one point hatred of the foreigner
and hatred of the Giaour, 1 the alien in race and the
infidel
this
bloodshed,
the
other
for
Tarikat
the
of the movement,
to
native
(Jihad).
Jews of
were
alike
accept Islam
his conversion
old,
called
was
of
essence
its
hand, the words of the Koran and the
example of the Prophet,
infidel
promised the highest good in
In theory Muridism was absolutely incompatible
come.
on
which
freedom, and eternal happiness in the world to
life,
with
religion
in
by
interpreted by
as
the
leaders
inculcated the invitation to the
(Da' vat),
or,
in
case of refusal,
force of arms, with death as the alter-
The
followers
of
Muhammad,
the
like
were the chosen people, and like them they
upon
to
war
with
the
unbelievers.
That
work of
rule,
was a
they, the orthodox, should not only fail in the
proselytism,
but actually submit to infidel
glaring contradiction of the
Prophet's teaching, in precept
sum and substance

and
still
more in
of the
practice.
mystical Path was all very well while the Moscovite
The
kept to his
own
side
of the border,
but
now
that by
and by fraud he had taken possession of the land,

a rougher road must be trodden. The only weapon of
force
Gydvmr
in Turkish,
but the form popularised by Byron must stand.

the Tarikat was the sword of the Spirit
it
the only liberty
But the wild
promised, spiritual freedom.
dwellers in
Daghestan may be pardoned
the mountains of
found
239
if
they
consolation for loss of temporal liberty in the
little
vague mysticism
of
dwellers
on the
Persian plains
dreamers on the banks of the Ganges.
or
their
Inevitably,
and most ardent inspiration became freedom from

Kussian servitude, and they understood very well that
first
could only be
this
they loved
purpose.
well
so
achieved by the sharp, bright steel
and could handle
in
respect
this
for the time at least, be modified
and brought into
nor,
according to Moulla
any
real
contradiction,
fetters or tread the
yoke?
Political
condition
terrible
a recourse to arms,
If the Tarikat prohibited
then the Tarikat must,
such
to
line with the
Koran
Muhammad, was there in this

for who could walk freely in
Path with neck bowed to the
infidel
freedom was obviously the indispensable
and the enslavement
of religious reformation,
Mussulmans the supreme justification of a holy war;

and so it happened that at the close of the first quarter
of
of the
nineteenth century, just
when
the Russians were
congratulating themselves on their easy conquest of
Da-
ghestan, the people of that country, animated at once by

religious enthusiasm
and love of freedom, the two most
powerful motives that sway mankind in the mass, were

ripe
the struggle which was to
for
doubtful
for
wanted a
many
leader,
long
year
to
make
that conquest
come.
There only
and, as usual, the hour brought forth
the man.
Kazi Moulla was born

1793.
He
Ghimree about the year

Karanai, and completed his
at
learned Arabic at
1
The actual date is uncertain, and on this point, as on so many others,
Thus Tchitchaguva, "Shamil in the
Bussian writers are very confusing.
240
education at Arakanee, under Sagheed Efendi, with
however, he afterwards
whom,
He combined
quarrelled.
in
rare
degree the silver and gold of speech and silence.

Shamil said of him that he was " silent as a stone,"
others, that men's
hearts were glued to his
a breath he raised a storm in their souls."
with
lips;
Russian
writer states that he possessed to a high degree the gift
of oratory, but no great theological learning

talent; a
native, Hadji-Ali
or political
of Tchokh, declares,
on the
other hand, that he swayed the people by his knowledge
and
mental
that he
adding
powers,
neither
spilt
the
blood nor pillaged the property of Mussulmans, but con-
temned worldly goods, and held

agree
that he
was
own
his
heroically brave,
fanatically devoted to
cheap.
All
single-minded,
and
life
the cause, but grave, sombre, and
merciless.
His companion and
fellow-villager, Shamil, lived almost
who were
name of Ghimree famous, were
companions.
The younger of the two had
next door to him as a child, and the two boys,

destined to
inseparable
make
been named Ali at

of his
stition
was
to
life thin,
the
birth,
but being for the
weakly, and often
prescribed a change
called Shamil.
From
ill,
moment
mend, and soon became noted
six years
wisdom or superand henceforth he
local
of name,
this
first
for
it is
said he
an uncommon degree
of strength and activity, which he took every possible

to develop.
He
began
means
and
practised fencing, running, jumping,
various gymnastic exercises to such effect that at twenty
he had no
rivals in these pursuits.
It is related of
him
Caucasus and in Russia," states on p. 13 that Kazi Moulla was four or five
who was born in 1797, and on p. 24 states that he
years older than Shamil,

was seventy-five years old
1
when
killed in 1832
" All-embracing," one of the
Berge\
hundred and one names of Allah, says M.

jump with
that he could
feet
241
ease over a ditch twenty- seven
wide (!), or over a rope held by two men of ordinary
He went
stature above their heads.
barefooted and with
breast uncovered in all weathers, and excelled in daring
and hardihood even amongst the brave and hardy moun-
He was
taineers of Daghestan.
for knowledge,
quick,
energetic,
eager
proud and masterful, but somewhat gloomy,
and abnormally
His
sensitive.
father,
Dengan, was
drunkard, and Shamil at the age of fourteen
felt bitterly
the sneers and mockery to which he was subjected by his

fellows on this account.
Seven times,
it
is
said,
he
tried
Dengan from his evil ways, even making him swear

on the Koran to renounce strong drink. Finding that this
to turn
had no permanent
effect,
the boy declared that the next
time he was gibed at for his father's drunkenness he would

stab himself to death before his eyes.
his son,
and
this threat
had such an
Now Dengan
effect
loved
on him that
from that moment he gave up drink and lived soberly to

the end of his days
first
so, at least,
the story goes.
Shamil's
teacher was his companion Kazi Moulla, and in after
he used to say that he learned more from him than

from any one else but both lads studied under several of
life
the most learned teachers in Daghestan, and finally paid a

visit to
Yaraghl, 1 and were there initiated into the prin-
ciples of the
new Muridism.
The
first evil
they set themselves was drunkenness.
against which
Kazi Moulla, when
he began to preach, caused Shamil to give him forty blows

with a rod in public for having tasted wine before he had
realised the enormity of such a sin,
mitted to the same punishment.

thus strangely begun had a great
1
The
plural, Yaraghlar, is
and Shamil
in turn sub-
The temperance crusade

and lasting success. The
sometimes used, there being an upper and a
lower village of the name.
242
people of Ghimree groaned, kissed the

robe,
of Kazi Moulla'
and many beat themselves.
Meantime, while the glittering

closed in on every side, Moulla
circle of
Russian bayonets
Muhammad's
been growing steadily year by year.

it
hem
influence
had
Intangible, immaterial,
passed surely and silently through the hedge of bristling
miraged ship through opposing
steel as a
cliffs,
or as a
up against the wind. The two forces,

material and moral, moving in concentric rings of opposite
direction, kept equal pace, and just when to outward
moss-bog
creeps
fire
seeming the
in central
last
spark of liberty was trampled under foot
Daghestan by the
soldiers of the Tsar, the sacred
flame was ready to burst forth and illumine the land on

every side, even to
its
utmost borders.
There seems no reason
had adopted Muridism

perfection, but as
defiled
to
doubt that Moulla
originally as a
Muhammad
means to
spiritual
he looked round and saw his country
and enslaved, other thoughts took root in
his
mind
the zeal of the patriot grew up side by side with the fervour
of the devotee, and the seed of later sowing sprang up
apace and rapidly overtopped the spreading branches that
had sheltered its early growth; or perhaps the Russians

would prefer the simile of a noxious parasite overspreading
a goodly tree. For many years people had flocked to the
holy
man
of Yaraghl for ghostly comfort and advice, and
the humble house was

pilgrimage,
after the
now more than
ever a place
knowledge of the Most High.
Other and sterner
faces were seen there than in earlier days,
who came
and of those
as before to satisfy a spiritual need, the majority
went back to
and feelings.
There
of
but no longer for none but peaceful seekers
is
their
much
homes imbued with quite other views

obscurity as to the exact dates of the
243
events marking the early progress of Muridism in Daghestan,
seems that Moulla Muhammad was consecrated

Murshid by Hadji Ismail in 1822-23, and from that time
preached the new doctrine in the mosque at Yaraghl,
but
it
though not
at first in its ultimate form.
began to preach openly
at
Ghimree
studied the Tarikat under Jamalu'd-din,
by Moulla Muhammad, we may

between those dates the
last
Now
Kazi Moulla
in 1827,
and as he
who was taught
safely assign to the interval
phase of his religious educa-
own consecration by Moulla Muhammad

Murshid and Imam.
tion
and
his
as
Jamalu'd-din, though he gave his daughter, Zeidat, in
marriage to Shamil, and was ever after the

friend
and wisest counsellor, refused
latter's
best
at first to countenance
the Ghazavat, and even forbade Kazi Moulla to undertake

it.
The
latter
thereupon journeyed once more to Yaraghl,
and addressed Moulla
Muhammad
as follows
"
God
the
Most High in His Book commands us to fight the infidel

and the atheist, but Jamalu'd-din refuses his sanction.
Whose commands shall I obey?" "We must obey the
commands of God rather than those of men," was the
answer, and from that moment, it may be said, the die
was
cast.
Returning to his native aoul he commenced to
preach, insisting mainly on the necessity of restoring the
and as a requisite corollary abandoning the Adats 1

at the same time impressing on his hearers the political
equality of all true believers, who owed no allegiance, he
Shariat,
maintained, to any but holy
men
obviously worthy of the
favour of Allah and the confidence of their fellow-country-
men.
It followed that
submission to the Russians was
neither obligatory nor laudable, though permissible as a
1 Customary law
in some communities embodied in written statutes, but
more frequently handed down orally from generation to generation.
244
temporary measure where resistance appeared hopeless.

But he wisely refrained at first from openly preaching the
holy war, for which the auspicious
moment had
not yet
Kazi Moulla was

certainly not only eloquent but learned, for he knew by
come, though rapidly drawing near.
heart over four hundred of the Ahadis, or sayings attributed

to the Prophet,
and quoted
these, with ready application,
to the confusion of all opponents.

in the background,
Keeping
aim
his real
he posed as a religious reformer only,
and soon acquired so great a reputation that the old
Shamkhal of Tarkou, a major-general
in the Eussian ser-
and loyal vassal of the Tsar, invited him to his capital,

and allowed him to preach in the mosque at Kazaneeshtchi
vice
and nominate the judge
at
Erpelee.
Arslan Khan,
of
Kazi-Koumoukh, more doubtfully loyal to Russia, likewise

received him with open arms, and his fame spread far
and wide in Daghestan. As the number of his followers
increased he gradually threw off his reserve, but
it
was
not until the end of 1829 that he openly called on his

hearers at
Long
Ghimree
to gird themselves for the holy war.
before then, however,
it
must have been evident
close observers that his preaching could have
may
to
no other end,
what the Russians were doing

all this time, and why they took no steps to avert the
danger that threatened them. The answer is that though
they had a shrewd suspicion of what was preparing under
the guise of religious reform, their attention was taken off by
the Persian and Turkish wars, both of which favoured the
and
it
well be asked
views of the revolutionaries in Daghestan, not only indirectly
but directly, for Persians and Turks in turn sent emissaries
up the mountaineers against the Russians in the

hope of diverting part of the army of the Caucasus from
to stir
the scene of conflict.
The Persians furnished
their agents
245
with money, and sought to achieve their end by an appeal
The Turks, better inspired, or more

were content to work upon their religious feel-
to their cupidity.
sagacious,
and to the honour of the Daghestanis, be
ings,
it said,
they
proved far more susceptible to moral than material induce-
No doubt also the fact

had much to do with their
ments.
Shiites
Now
that the Persians were

non-success.
us turn to that measure of religious reform
let
which from the time that the movement took a
practical
direction replaced the higher but vaguer teaching of the
In preaching
Tarikat.
Moulla
Muhammad and
the
restoration
his followers
of
the Shariat
had a double object
As comprising the civil and religious laws

embodied in the Koran it was an essential part of the
in
view.
religion of all true Mussulmans,
reformer
who hoped
and no genuine
religious
to influence the people as a whole,
and
not merely the few whose minds were open to mystical

allurements, could fail to insist
had
a political significance in
on
its
observance.
But
it
Daghestan of the weightiest
kind, for the greatest difficulty in the
way of the
liberators
was not the power of Russia, but the weakness of their own
country, and that weakness arose mainly from internal
Daghestan was split up into numerous khanates
discord.
and
communities of many
free
different
races
and lan-
guages, and for the most part bitterly hostile one to another.
Strife
and bloodshed were chronic, and not only between
those various entities,
but
between village and
between house and house, as

memorial
it
had been
village,
from, time im-
and of many contributory causes none had
operated so powerfully in originating and perpetuating this

state of things as the elaborate
system of blood-feud and
vengeance, not only sanctioned but insisted upon by the

Adats.
The
subject
is
one of very great
interest,
and
246
by many striking instances, but for

the present it will suffice to mention two or three cases to
show the lengths to which this primitive custom extended
might be
illustrated
in Daghestan.
Three hundred years ago, as Shamil himself told the

story, a villager of Kadar, in Mekhtoulee, stole a hen from
who
his neighbour,
retaliated
The
by taking a sheep.
first
paid himself back with two sheep, whereupon the second
helped himself to a cow.
The
neighbour's horse, which
so
now
original thief
stole his
exasperated the latter that,
finding no property sufficiently valuable to compensate such
he killed him and
loss,
Blood demanded blood, but
fled.
the murderer was not to be found
so the relations of the
murdered man in default of the guilty one, and in
strict
accordance with the local Adat, slaughtered his next of
The blood-feud was now
kin.
up
for
three
during which
centuries,
and was kept
in full swing,
scores,
some say
hundreds, of innocent victims were sacrificed in the

of honour to this terrible custom, and
Another
all for
a hen
name
1
!
by Shamil, occurred at
Tchokh, 25 versts south of Gouneeb, an aoul celebrated as
case,
also
recorded
the scene of Nadir Shah's defeat (1742) and an unsuccessful siege
by the Kussians under Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff
was not a domestic fowl but that
in 1849.
This time
commoner
object of dispute, a pretty
the quarrel.
it
young man
at
girl,
who
love paid a visit to his desired father-in-law

his consent to the marriage.
fusal
he
lost his temper,
gave rise to
Tchokh being
violently in
and demanded
Meeting with a decided
and whipping out
re-
his kindjal dealt
a mortal blow, which, however, did not prevent his opponent
from drawing a
1
Eounovsky's
pistol
article
1870, No. 11, p. 62.
and
killing his
murderer in turn.
"Rousskie lyoudi na Kavkazye"
in the
At
ZaryA for

women
the noise of the shot and cries of the
came running
and being
in,
related,
some
247
the neighbours
to one,
some
to
the other, of the two victims, promptly took up the quarrel
from words they came to blows, and fought with such

deadly determination that in a very short space of time not
less
than twenty-five were killed and wounded. 1
Again, at
the sheep-cotes of the village of Tseebilda, in Andee, some
180 years ago, a quarrel arose between the shepherds while
engaged in the favourite amusement of

Presently one of
is
them
killed,
firing at a
mark.
whether by accident or not
unknown, another, and a battle followed in which even

men and women joined, and eventually of the whole
old
community only four persons were
left alive.
In 1826 at
Velikent, in the district of Kaitago, a fight took place in a
room containing fourteen persons, and all were killed but

The cause of quarrel on this occasion was a bloodone.
feud wbich had already cost life. 2 The Adats bearing on
this subject, like all others, vary considerably in detail
and
village to village
are identical,
but of
many
all
and
from
tribe to tribe, but in principle they
this holds
good not only of Daghestan
the mountain districts of the Caucasus, and as in
respects they are diametrically opposed to the teach-
ing of the Koran,

before
the
it is
evident that they must have existed
Muhammadan
conquest.
General Komardff
holds that the population of Daghestan up to then was
mostly pagan, though the opposite opinion has been widely

maintained.
He
points out that some of the tribes accepted
Islam without demur, whilst those which were recalcitrant

1
Ibid., p. 63.
last two cases are given by Komar6ff in his very interesting and
learned article on the Adats of Daghestan: Sbornik Svtidenii o Kavkazskikh
2
The
Malcolm (" History of Persia," vol. ii. p. 328, note

GoHsakh, i. pp. 44, 45.
London, 1829) gives details of a Persian blood-feud which in 1814 had lasted
seventy years, and still continued.
248
were treated by the Arabs with great

the presumption
case
tianity.
Kounovsky,
is
to
cruelty,
and
in either
against the existence of Chris-
whom we
are indebted for
many
whose warder he was

at Kalouga, thinks that the Mussulmans from climatic and
other causes chose out the Old Testament law of " an eye
for an eye," &c, and neglected what he calls the New Testament recommendation to mercy with which it is mixed up
interesting details regarding Shamil,
and adds that the Daghestanis from natural

perversity improved upon the Jewish law of retaliation by
in the Koran,
demanding two or more eyes for one. But this is a very

superficial view, the fact no doubt being that they never
abandoned
their primitive
customs on the subject,
or, if
they
did, reverted to them as soon as the grasp of the Arabian
conquerors relaxed, just as they did in 1859 on the surrender of Shamil.

Moreover, the passages in the Koran are as follows
"
And
heir
whosoever shall be
power
demand
to
we have given his

but let him not exceed
slain unjustly,
satisfaction,
the bounds of moderation in putting to death the murderer

in too cruel a
manner, or by revenging his friend's blood
on any other than the person who killed him

true believers
the law of retaliation
the slain; the free shall die for the

for the servant,
his brother shall
make
be
set
and " Oh,
ordained you for
and the servant
free,
woman for a woman but he whom

forgive may be prosecuted, and obliged to
and a
satisfaction according to
what
on him with humanity.
your Lord and mercy.

this,
is
"
;
is just,
This
And he who
by killing the murderer,
is
and a
fine shall
indulgence from
shall transgress after
shall suffer a grievous punish-
Komar6ff, op. cit., p. 43, note. As to the early introduction of Christianity

into Albania, identified with Daghestan or the country immediately south of
it, see Coneybeare, " The Key of Truth," p. lviii, Oxford, 1898.
1

So that there
ment."
is
no recommendation, but,
249
at most,
a permission to be merciful. 1
Shamil enforced the Shariat with
was bound
therefore
of
Muhammad.
as above stated,
to allow full
fire
sway to the lex
But taking advantage of
on the
its
talionis
limitations,
he punished any act of vengeance executed
on other than an actual murderer, and

without
and sword, and
difficulty
will
it
be understood
what an immense improvement
state of things evidenced
this
was
by the cases above quoted.
credited with having inculcated a resort
Moreover, he
is
to forgiveness
and pecuniary compensation as more pleasing
to
Custom,
Allah.
When
Shamil.
was too strong even
however,
at the height of his
for
power the blood-feuds
continued, though by no means to the same extent as
formerly
lation of
his fall " the
and from the day of
Daghestan immediately restored the customary
law, choosing in each village people
decide
all
whole popu-
whose duty
contentions by the Adats,
Shariat nothing remained but
its
while of
memory
in the
it
was
to
Shamil's
name given
to the period of his power, " the time of the Shariat," as
distinguished from that which preceded

of the Adats.
force
in
At the present day
many departments
it,
called the time
the Adats are in full
of jurisprudence under the
countenance of the Russian Government, and in the less

accessible parts of the Caucasus the blood-feud and blood-
vengeance exist in
all
their
Daghestan, where civilising

siderable
severity.
pristine
influences are more
modifications have taken place;
punished by Russian law, and praiseworthy

to effect reconciliation;
for
instance,
Hadjis
1
a
But
felt,
in
con-
murderers are
efforts are
made
while in other parts, Tchetchnia,
returning from
Sale's Koran, chapter

Komar6ff, op. cit., vol.
Mecca have quite
xvii. 11.
i.
p. 7.
250
recently turned
same desirable
to the
The
We
their
actual
know
attention with
considerable
success
object.
number of Murids was probably never
great.
that in the days of Shamil's power the fighting
Murids were merely the immediate bodyguards of himself

and his naibs, who horsed, armed, and maintained them.
Shamil himself had no more than 132 Murids attached to
his person.
But
just as
Muridism was adopted by the
Russians as a convenient word to describe the movement

underlying the hostility of the mountaineers, so the designation of Murid was accepted and extended to
tribesmen of Daghestan
and
it
who took up arms
must be understood
all
the
against them,
that, unless otherwise specified,
the two words in these pages bear this loose and general
signification.
MtJRID WITH A NaIB'S STANDARD

(From. Theo. Horscheldt's picture)
CHAPTER XVI
1829-1832
Kazi Moulla takes the field His various successes and defeats Andee,
Khounzakh, Tarkou, Bournaya, Derbend, Kizliar, Agatch-Kala Plans
for subjugation of the tribes
Nazran Galgai expedition
:
Kazi MoullA's career from the date of his open revolt

was brief and stormy, marked by notable successes and not
less notable failures, and ending with defeat and death, but
a death that retrieved and enhanced his waning popularity,
a defeat that was worse than a Pyrrhic victory to the
Russians.
His
first
general appeal to the people of Daghestan in
favour of a holy war was written in 1829
move
(in 1830)
was directed against
Sagheed of Arakanee.
;*
his first
open
his former teacher,
Coming suddenly upon
that pic-
turesque aoul at the head of a large body of fanatical

adherents,
he destroyed Sagheed's house, burnt
valuable books and manuscripts, the
and caused
all
work
all
his
of a lifetime,
the wine in Arakanee to be poured out on
The villagers would have opposed the outrage,

but they were overawed by the
for Sagheed was their pride
Murids, who forced them to submit, and took hostages for
the ground.
their
good behaviour, Sagheed himself having escaped
at
See translation from the Arabic of this important document, Kavkazsky
Sbornik, xi. p. 146.
An authentic summary of Kazi Moulla's career is to be found in Captain

Prouzhanovsky's memoir, Sbornik Qaz&i Kavkaz (1847), ii. 22 ; and the history
of the years 1824-32 is to be found at very great length in the Kavkazsky
The article is entitled " 1824-1834 in the Eastern Caucasus,"
Sbornik, x-xx.
hands from official documents, but left unfinished.
various
by
compiled
r
251
2
252
the

moment and taken
last
with Asian Khan. 1
refuge
Encouraged by this success, the new leader proceeded to

Karanai and Erpelee, whose devotion to the cause he had
reason to suspect, and again taking hostages sent them to
Ghimree, and imprisoned them in underground
pits,
such as
were afterwards used by Shamil for his Russian captives

at Dargo,
Miatli,
Veden, and elsewhere.
His next move was
on the Soulak, below Ghimree, and here he shot the
kadi for refusing to obey his commands. 3
moment
In
fact,
from the
that he took the field he inaugurated, in spite of
what has been

more
to
said to the contrary, that system of terrorism
fully enforced
carried to the
by his successor Hamzad Bek, and
most ruthless extreme by Shamil.
But Kazi
The
Moulla had more wisdom than to rely on force alone.
Kadi of Akousha,
for instance, as
head of the powerful
community of Darghee, was too strong
for the
free
Murids
to
attack with their present restricted forces, and Kazi Moulla
The
confined his efforts in this direction to persuasion.
Avar khanate, which, be
it
remembered, included at
time only a portion of the Avar tribes and
territories,
this
might
well have been thought too strong to attack, but after a

public meeting at Ghimree, attended by religious leaders
from nearly
all
parts of Daghestan,
acclaimed Kazi Moulla "

the Jihad,
khan
it
who with one
Imam," and accepted
The
was a minor, but the government was
the hands of his mother, Pakhou-Beekhe, a

exceptional
his call to
was determined to make the attempt.
at this time
with one of
voice
wisdom
many
and great courage,
who
woman
in
of
furnishes us
instances proving that, contrary to the
opinion current in Christian countries,

are not necessarily excluded
Muhammadan women
from positions of power in
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
Ibid., p. 155.
xi. 153.
this

life,
253
any more than they are shut out from Paradise in that
to come.
On
the 4th February 1830, with a gathering of some
3000 men, Kazi Moulld marched

eventually joined
by
as
Andee, where he was
to
many more, though
the
at first
people of that country, fearing for their important trade

in bourkas (felt cloaks
*)
with the Russians, and with the
Tchetchens living within the Russian

siderable reluctance to join the
who was
of Avaria,
lines,
movement
showed con-
against the
Khan
in receipt of a subsidy from the Russian
Government.
On the way he met with armed opposition from his neighbours of Irganai and Kasatli, but defeated them easily with
many wounded,
a loss of twenty-seven killed and
which he sent
sixty hostages to join those
and elsewhere already immured
in
the
after
from Arakanee
prison
pits
of
Ghimree and Ountsoukoul.

The story of his coming throws out in high relief his
ignorance and fanaticism, and one detail is very suggestive
when taken
in connection with the supposed Jewish origin
of these people.
He came
all
the
way from Ghimree on
foot, for he had not yet raised the standard of the Ghazavat,
humble that he feared it might be a sin to ride.

From time to time he stopped and leaned forward, with his
hand to his ear as if listening, though silence reigned on
When his followers questioned him he
the mountains.
and was
so
answered
"
Do you
not hear?
Methinks
it is
the clanking
which the Russians are brought prisoners

Then, seated on a stone, he would develop
of the chains in
before
me
his ideas
"
and form plans
for the future glory of Islam.
1
Bourka (Burka) is an Arabic word usually applied to the face veil worn by
women, hence to that part of the covering of the Kaaba which hides the door
Burton, "Arabian Nights,"
vol. vi. p. 113.
254
"
When we
have driven the Giaour from the Caucasus and
taken Moscow, we will go to Stamboul, and

Sultan a religious man,
strictly
we
find the
we will not molest him if not, woe be unto him

bind him in chains, and his empire will pass to the
the Shariat,
we
if
obeying the commands of
will
When
Faithful "
he drew near to Andee
all
the people
came out, and " a very great multitude spread their garments in the way." Probably if there had been any trees
within reach " others " would have " cut down branches
from the trees and strewed them in the way." But Andee
and its neighbourhood grows nothing bigger than a thistle,
though tradition says that the forests of Tchetchnia once
stretched over this
now
treeless region.
This episode had a salutary
many
places.
In Avaria
effect
itself the
on the waverers in
greater part of the
Imam, but Khounzakh,

700 houses, was inhabited
population took sides with the

the
capital,
a town of over
chiefly
by refugees from
perate
men
for the
most
all
part,
parts of the Caucasus,
and
little
des-
inclined to submit
themselves to the austere rules of Muridism.
Built on the
whence a
vast gully leads down to the Avar Koisou, Khounzakh had
been fortified in good time with breastworks and towers,
edge of a precipice 5544 feet above
sea-level,
and Pakhou-Beekhe, finding that the inhabitants could

be trusted, determined to defy Kazi Moulla and defend
her capital to the
On
last.
the 14th February 1830 the
Murids advanced to the attack in two bodies, commanded

by the Imam himself and by Shamil, with
respectively
there
is
no God but God
had never
arms
")
"
God is great,
The outlaws of Khounzakh
shouts of " Allah-Akbar, lia-il-allahou
("
yet seen or heard anything so imposing
fell involuntarily to their sides,
they had opened suddenly ceased.
their
and the desultory
At
this
fire
moment, as an

apparition risen from the ground, the
255
majestic figure of
Pakhou-Beekhe stood before them, terrible in her wrath,

with drawn sword in hand, cheeks aflame, and eyes on fire.
" Avars," she cried, while all looks were fixed upon her,
"
you are not worthy to bear arms.
If
you
are afraid, give
them to us women and take refuge behind our robes

Stung by this bitter taunt the defenders rallied just as
the enemy were about to climb the breastworks, and drove
them off with great slaughter. Seeing this, those Avars
who had taken part with the Murids withdrew, and the
!
latter
were put to
and 60
flight,
prisoners in the
leaving 200 dead,
many wounded,
hands of the victorious khansha.
Shamil was for a time in danger of being killed by his own

incensed followers, but was saved by the intercession of a
many narrow
escapes,
which
to the
Dervish, the
first
superstitious
mountaineers seemed to mark him out as
of
one predestined for the work of Allah upon earth.
Hadji
Mourad, afterwards so celebrated, gathered up the banners
and pennons
them
sent
left
by the Murids and

to prove the loyalty and devotion of
on the
to Tiflis
field of battle
Avaria to Russia, and Kazi Moulla retired in confusion

to
Ghimree, giving out that this signal defeat was God's
punishment on the people

impurity of morals.
their
for
want of
faith
and
had been his intention, after taking possession of

Khounzakh, to invade that part of Tchetchnia called
Aoukh and attack the Russians in their fort of Vnezapnaya,
and, knowing this, the Russian commander, Baron Rosen,
It
had
hastily
small
but
marched
to the defence of that place with a
compact
force.
Hearing
of
the
events
at
Khounzakh, Rosen hurried on
to
Mount Kharakhs, and
there received the submission of
all
the Koisoubou villages
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
xi. p. 171.
256
Content with this he retired, and Kazi

Moulin took advantage of this fact to persuade his dispirited
except Ghimree.
followers that the Russians dared not attack him.
In a
few weeks he was again at the head of a large gathering,

a
in
very
inaccessible
position
at
Agatch-Kala (" the
wooden tower "), otherwise known as Tchoumkeskent, in

the thickly wooded mountain to the south of Erpelee.
An attempt was made to dislodge him by the Russians
under Major-General Prince Bekovitch, but without success,
and with added numbers and

Atli-Bouyoun,
prestige
he marched against
a village between Petrovsk and the pass
leading to Shoura, defeated there another Russian com-
mander, Baron Taube, 1 next destroyed Paraoul, the residence

of the Shamkhal, captured Tarkou under the guns of the
Russian
latter.
Bournaya, and besieged and nearly took the
fort
But reinforcements
arriving at the critical
he was defeated with heavy
loss,
took refuge once more at Tchoumkeskent.

the end of
May
moment,
and, forced to retreat,
This was at
1831, and after ten days' rest he marched
on Vnezapnaya, and with splendid audacity laid siege to
A Russian
that stronghold.
came hurriedly
to the rescue,
army, under General Emanuel,
and the Imam, taught by his
experience at Bournaya, retreated in time into the neigh-
bouring
flicted
forests,
where the Russians following him, he
upon them a sanguinary
defeat, capturing
in-
one gun,
and wounding Emanuel himself, in consequence of which

the latter handed over the
command
Kavhmsky
Journal of the defence Akti, viii. 528.

Pankrdtieff to Pasktevitch.
Ibid., p. 530
Sbornik,
to Veliameenoff.*
207.
xiii.
was Aktash Aktchee (in Aoukh). There was at

no commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, Paskierotch having left in
May to direct operations against the Polish rebels. Rosen was appointed to
succeed him on the 13th September 1831.
1
The
this time
site of this battle

On
the other side of the mountains
257
Hamzad, afterwards
second Imam, succeeded in stirring up rebellion amongst

the Djaro-bielokanis, and in the course of
suppression
its
the Russians, under General Strekaloff, suffered a severe
men
defeat at Zakatali, losing 6 officers and 243
killed,
and 139 wounded, out of a total force of little

more than three battalions. Four guns were lost, and, to
10
officers
the bitter grief of Paskievitch and of the Emperor Nicholas,
both battalions of the Erivan regiment were seized with

panic and
fled.
Kazi Moulin once more retired to Tchoumkeskent, where
August he received a deputation from the people of
in
Tabassaran,
who
invited
him
come and lead them
to
the Russians in the holy war.

set out for
Derbend, which, owing to a
with Persia, had been
and
Nothing
for eight days,
fortress in
siege
Nesselrode in
St.
left in
he
loth,
false
against
at
once
rumour of war
charge of two battalions only,
12th to 20th August 1831, kept this

but a week later Pankratieff wrote to
Petersburg, "
du
c6te
du Daghestan
il
n'y
a rien qui puissent nous donner de grandes inquietudes et

3
Yet on
y prennent une tournure favorable."
the 1st November Kazi Moulla, driven off by General
nos
affaires
Kakhanoff, made a daring and successful raid on the town

of Kizliar on the lower Terek, known,
and
to
Shamil from a
visit
it is said,
both to him
they had paid there to certain
mouUds when still mere students of theology. The

town was taken and sacked, and Kazi Moull& returned to
Daghestan with 200 prisoners, mostly women, and booty
learned
said to
have been valued
at four million roubles,
xii. pp. 151 et seq.

Pankratieffs report to Tchernisheff, 5th September 1831
534 and Kavkazsky Sbornik, xiii. pp. 311 et seq.
3
Akti, viii. 740.
2
no doubt a
Ka/okaesky Sbornik,
Akti,
viii.
p.
258
very gross exaggeration. 1
Against this success the Russians
could only put the storming of Erpelee, during his absence,
by General Pankratieff; but the tide was about
to turn.
General Kakhanoff determined to destroy the stronghold of

Tchoumkeskent at all hazards, and after an abortive attempt
on the 26th November Colonel Miklashevsky led his troops
to the assault
on
1st
December.
spite of obstacles, natural
and
The
place was stormed in

of such a kind that,
artificial,
according to Bestouzheff, the Decabrist, " the
affair cost
us
400 men, though we had but to take a wooden tower

defended by 200. The Russians performed miracles of
bravery in vain.
Eight of our best
He
Miklashevsky."
after,
officers fell,
including
adds that the affair at Tchirkei, soon
ended more happily, "for we took back the cannon
captured
from
Emanuel, but
it
cost
us
eighty men."
General Pankratieff in reporting the storming of AgatchKala, states that " owing to the great exasperation of the
troops not one
prisoner."
man
of
the
enemy's force was taken
command
Since Paskievitch's departure the
of the troops
had been shared by General Pankratieff, who
failed alto-
gether to gauge the significance of the Murid movement,
and General Emanuel, whose

was not eminently successful.
action, to say the least of
On
it,
the 8th October 1831
Lieutenant-General Baron Rosen i took over the succession

i Rosen
to Tchemisheff, 26th November Akti, viii. p. 671 ; and see
Kavkazsky Sbornih, xiv. p. 118.
1
Veliameenoff was in command. See his report, Akti, viii. 539.
3
Akti, viii. 549. Pankratieff in his official report gives the number of
natives killed as 150 but in his proclamation to the people of Daghestan he
See also Kavlcazsky Shomik, xiv.
says, "300 bodies were left on the field."
:
p. 144.
4
There were at this time no less than four Barons Rosen in the army, of
were generals serving in the Caucasus just as there were three
whom two
Veliameenoffs, two of
somewhat confusing.
them
also Caucasian general officers.
The
result
is
259
to Paskievitch as commander-in-chief of the Georgian
army
and knowing nothing of the country, found himself
plunged almost immediately into a very sea of difficulties.
corps,
Paskievitch had formed comprehensive plans for the subjugation of the tribes, but, occupied with the Persian and
Turkish campaigns, and with the subsequent readjustment

of affairs in Transcaucasia, absent during part of 1830 in
St.
the
Petersburg, and called upon early in 1831 to assume
command
in Poland,
he had found time only for " the
occupation of the Abkhasian coast as far as Bombor, the

pacification of the Djaro-bielokani districts,
and the firm
establishment of Russian authority in Ossetia both north
and south of the central chain.

of extreme importance, as
The
latter
was of course
cut off the eastern from the
it
western Caucasus."
But there was still much to do, and in Daghestan and

on the Line the condition of affairs was grave indeed. As
Eosen wrote to Tchemisheff (13th December 1831): "I
arrived here at a time of very great disturbance.
were the mountain
They
undertakings.
place,
and the
failure
or,
fact
when
are exasperated
If he
by what has taken
that our actions either resulted in
were not followed up, has
successful,
emboldened them and given scope

teaching.
was not
killed
to
(at
Kazi Moulla's
began that interchange of views between the
authorities
and headquarters in
means of subjugating the

prevalence
of
ignorant, fell
St.
tribes,
Veliameenoff's
false
Tchoumkeskent,
rumoured), they will be on the move again in spring."
Now
Never
tribes so insolent or so persistent in their
as
local
Petersburg as to the
which ended in the
opinions.
Eosen, frankly
more and more under the influence of the

1
Kavkazsky Sbornik, xv.
Akti,
viii. p.
342.
p. 507.
260
latter,
who, when called upon
himself at
first,
owing
an opinion, contented
that he was engaged in
to give
to the fact
military operations against the Tchetchens, with forwarding
a copy of his memoir drawn up in 1828. 1
This was early
Subsequently Veliameenoff wrote
in the spring of 1832.
a commentary on a project drawn up by a
staff-officer,
Colonel Burnod, and on the 27th July his commentary on

Paskievitch's letter.
sallied out
Meantime, on Christmas Eve, he had
from Grozny, and in
spite of the
Emperor's
re-
peated injunctions against isolated expeditions or raids, as

distinct
from any general plan or movement, raided
Aoukh
and part of Salatau with the usual accompaniments of
and sword,
month
everything
destroying, literally,
later
his way.
in
he treated the country between KazakhThis brought
Kitchou and Grozny in the same fashion.*
him
in direct collision with his autocratic master,
little
fire
who was
used to disobedience or even to any show of inde-
pendence on the part of his
and
subjects;
it
speaks
eloquently for VeliameenofFs intellect and character that
he came through the ordeal in triumph.
The Emperor
was very angry at first, 6 but Veliameenoff defended himself

so ably and with so much dignity that in the end it
was Nicholas who gave
in. 6
Raiding expeditions were,
henceforth, expressly allowed, though with certain definite

restrictions;
but the forces at the disposal of the com-
mander-in-chief were never sufficient to carry out Velia-
meenofFs proposals in
full,
and
it
is,
See
'
Rosen to Tchernisheff, 11th February 1832
Ibid.
ante,
chapter
therefore, impossible
vii.
:
Akti,
Ibid.
viii.
p. 672.
6
Tchernisheff to Rosen, 5th April 1832
Akti, viii. p. 674.
Majesty having seen with extreme dissatisfaction that in spite
"
of
repeated injunctions," &c.

6
Ibid., vol. xv. pp. 548-76, where the original documents are quoted.
His
his
261
whether or not they would ever have had
to say definitely
the complete success he so confidently predicted.
MoulM
In 1832 Kazi
again appeared in Tchetchnia
and obtained several small successes on the Line, and,

hoping to rouse Kabarda, even threatened Vladikavkaz
and besieged Nazran.
General Baron Tornau, author of
" Recollections of the Caucasus and Georgia,"
moment
in Vladikavkaz just at the critical
of April), writes
"
The eyes and
who
arrived
(the beginning
ears of all in Vladikavkaz
were turned towards the beleaguered

fended only by two weak companies
fort,
which was de-
was but one

thought in all minds what would be their fate and what
the consequences should they fail to make good their
;
there
would be
the signal for a general rising round Vladikavkaz, communications with Georgia would be interrupted, and the
fortress itself in great straits.
From Nazran we had no
news whatever, for the enemy had cut off all communications.
The commandant, the officers, and even the
soldiers who were off duty remained constantly on the
defence
Kazi Moulla's
first
success at Nazran
parapets striving to see or hear what was going on, but
The fog limited our range of vision to the

and no sound reached our ear but the dull roar
in vain.
glacis,
of distant gun-fire, which told us

tines
and Cossacks sent out
any definite intelligence
as
little
or nothing.
Osse-
scouts returned without
once they came suddenly on a
strong party of the enemy, and instead of news brought
back the dead bodies of several of their comrades.

Next day the guns were still heard the third day a violent
.
cannonading began at dawn and was renewed about two

Fear seized
o'clock, but towards evening all was still.
on every one.
1
Had Nazran
fallen.
The commandant
Printed in Katkoff's Bousski Viestnik in 1869.
sent
262
a strong party of Ossietines
off
to
find out
what had
sum of
and at the same time,
money, engaged a couple of spies. Before daylight they
galloped back with the joyful news that the fort was intact,
that the Russian soldiers had beaten off two attempts at
storming, and that after the second the local Ingoushee
had unexpectedly fallen on the retreating Tchetchens and
happened,
killed
their
for
a large
By evening Kazi Moulla had
wounded!
retired across the Soundja."
In the mountain regions due south of Nazran yet

another expedition resulted from Kazi Moulla's endeavours
to fuse the tribes of the Caucasus into one vast
madan power.
To
this
end he
Muham-
sent a strong force of
Daghestanis to procure the submission and conversion of

the mountain Tchetchens 2 dwelling in the high valleys
between the vast limestone range and the central chain
With
east of the Georgian road.
mission was a complete success
these pagan tribes the
but their neighbours to
the south, the nominally Christian Khevsours, beat back

his emissaries
such as
it
and
sturdily maintained their religious faith,
was, their independence, and their friendship
with the Russians.
The
visit of
the Murids was followed by an outbreak
new
on the part of their

the Russian preestaff
who,
after murdering
and a couple of orthodox mission-
converts>
Muridism by
of highway robberies on the Georgian road. This
aries, signalised their
a series
zeal in the cause of
was more than Russia could bear.

The murder of her
representatives, both lay and clerical, must be avenged
and
1
safety restored to the
main Line of communication
Rousshi Viestnik, vol. Ixxix., 1869
Tornau's " Recollections,'' section
p. 26.
J
Kists, Galgais, mountain Ingoushee, &c.
District police-officer.
ii.
Towers in the Country op the Galgais, with Crosses

worked in the masonry

with her possessions
south of
263
An
snowy range.
the
expedition was therefore decided on, and Baron Rosen,

to
whom
Veliameenoff as chief of the
more indispensable than he had been

mined to lead it himself.
seems probable that
It
mountains were
at
all
staff
was now even
to Yermdloff, deter-
these
Ingoushee of the
one time Christians, at least in so
far as
concerned their outward religious forms and wor-
ship.
All along these valleys are the remains of Christian
churches, and the pagan rites
now
obtaining are in
many
strangely intermingled with undoubted vestiges of
cases
The towers
met with also

point to a civilised and Christian origin, for the emblem
of the Cross is frequently worked into the masonry while
as to the many tombs around them the present inhabiChristian belief.
so frequently
tants agree
with the race
in repudiating all connection
them and whose bones they contain, though

they treat them with respect and even veneration. What
hold Christianity really had over these people we have
no means of ascertaining, nor do we know at what period
they relapsed into paganism but it must have been very
long, doubtless several centuries, ago, and probably as a
result of the Tartar or Mongol invasions of Georgia, which
that built
put an end to that country's domination over the wild

tribes of the north.
The Galgais were

offer
too few in
any very serious resistance
number and too poor to

but relying on their moun-
tain fastnesses,
to be inacces-
sible to
for submission
which they fondly imagined

Russian troops, they met all demands
with insolent defiance, and refused to deliver up those

guilty
of murdering the preestaff
and
column was therefore formed

from Vladikavkaz, consisting of 3000
flying
missionaries.
Balta,
14 versts
regulars,
with four
at
264
mountain
and 500 Ossietine
guns
There
militiamen.
being no roads the troops took with them neither tents

nor knapsacks, each
man
carrying, besides his arms, merely
a bag of biscuits, enough for six days, this being supple-
mented by a ten days' supply
carried
on pack-horses, while
Even the
a few oxen lagged behind the column.
were
tents
left
behind after the second day,
officers'
with the
exception of three, for the commander-in-chief, his chief
and chancery
of
staff,
at
dawn by a temporary
march
its
in
column
respectively.
Crossing the Te"rek
bridge, the
little
army began
but " at the fourth verst already
we came to dangerous abysses, the path grew narrow, the

troops had to stretch themselves out in single file, and
guns had to be transferred from wheels to pack-
the
saddles, so that in spite of its smallness the
column was
a long one, no less than five versts from front to rear."

It
was not
until the fifth
day
on the banks of
that,
the Assa, near the village of Zoti, shots were fired for the
There was no serious
time.
first
now
during
or
the whole
fighting, however, either
time
the expedition
lasted.
Villages were destroyed, towers blown up, crops cut, and

occasional shots exchanged
but the enemy
than to face the Eussians in such
force,
knew
better
and contented
down
themselves with picking off stragglers or showering
rocks and stones on the invaders at convenient spots, of
which there
The
is
no lack between Djerakh and Tsori.
destruction of the last-named populous aoul
was
the final aim of the expedition, and the whole army now
But so narrow was the
directed its march towards it.
only path, cut in the face of precipitous rocks, that the

troops had to keep their single
all
those
behind him had
file,
and
if
to stop too.
one
man
halted
This led to a
laughable incident, for not far from Tsori a square tower

of great strength
commanded
the
path,
265
and, garrisoned
by men evidently very determined, stayed the advance

three whole days.
covered
When
at last, with
way had been
enormous
difficulty,
driven through the solid rock
to the base of the tower and a mine
surrendered,
and was found
dirty Galgais,
and two only
to
laid,
the garrison
of
two ragged,
consist
Next day Tsori was destroyed,
no further attempt being made
army returned
for
to Vladikavkaz.
to defend
it,
and the
little
1 Tornau, op. cit., section vi., gives a vivid narrative of this expedition
See also Rosen's reports to Tchernisheff of 15th, 21st, and 29th July 1832
Akti, viii. pp. 677, 678, 681 ; and Kavkazsky Sbornik, xvii. pp. 395 et seq.
CHAPTER XVII
1832
Tohetchnia expedition
Defeat and death of VolzhinskyDargo taken

Death of Kazi Moulla
Ghimree
little later Rosen and Veliameenoff set out from Nazran
men and 28 guns to harry all lower Tchetchnia.

who accompanied the expedition, has left us the
with 9000
Tornau,
following description
of
the
ing in those days, from which

gerous
the
it
was,
officer in
"
At
campaign-
it is
easy to see
how dan-
and how much would necessarily depend on
command. 1
time (1832)
that
through the
forest
best extant
we had not
In the early
forests.
yet cut
avenues
'twenties, indeed,
Yer-
moloff had cleared a distance of a musket shot on either

side of the road through the
well-known Goiten
forest,
but
had already become overgrown by an impenetrable

thicket of underwood, so that we had to face warfare in
this
Tchetchnia under the most

nents the Tchetchens
amidst their
forests
respect,
and
and mountains no troops in
the
the
world could afford to despise them.

brave,
in
intelligent
of local
military
fullest
Good
affairs,
shots, fiercely
they,
like
other
Caucasus, were quick to take advan-
inhabitants of the
tage
As oppo-
difficult conditions.
merited
conditions,
seize
upon every mistake we
made, and with incredible swiftness use
it
for
our
own
N
destruction.
1
Op.
cit.,
section
vii. p.
131.

" Veliameenoff's
was very simple.
267
plan for the Tchetchen expedition
Never doubting a successful
result to a
campaign cautiously conducted, but expecting nothing more

from it than a temporary repression of the Tchetchens such
as
would give the Russians on the Line a
troubled
life
respite
from the
of the past few years, he proposed to pass
through the low country, ruining settlements, destroying

harvests, raiding herds
and
flocks,
and attacking the enemy
wherever they had the audacity to collect in any
Any
force.
must be determined by circumstances.

Next day (6th August), we left Nazran and crossed the
Soundja by a trestle bridge, as that river is fordable only in
further steps
"
Once across we were in hostile territory, and after one day's march found ourselves engaged in
ceaseless fighting.
In war with the Tchetchens one day
is like another.
Only at rare intervals some unexpected
upper reaches.
its
episode
the meeting with
a large band, the storming of a
fortified aoul, or a side raid
of the proceedings.
varied the
The length
deadly monotony
of the day's
march was
determined by the distance between the clearings along
camp being
wood. The road
the river banks large enough to allow of the

pitched a musket shot from the nearest
lay for the most part through dense forests of lofty trees,
interrupted here and there by glades, streams, and gullies.
Fighting went on from beginning to end of each march
was the chatter of musketry, the hum of bullets men

fell
but no enemy was seen. Puffs of smoke in the jungle
alone betrayed their lurking-places, and our soldiers, having
there
nothing else to guide them, took aim by that.

" After a
march the troops camped
according to the
1
An
number
account of this expedition from the
kazshj Sbornik, xviii. pp. 310
et seq.
for
one or more days
of aouls in the neighbourhood

official
sources
is
given in Kav-
268
that were to be destroyed.
on
and dwellings.
sides to ravage the enemy's fields
all
The aouls
rattles,
blaze, the crops are
mown
down, the musketry
wounded are brought

Our Tartars (native allies) come in with
the guns thunder
and the dead.
in
Small columns were sent out
again the
severed heads tied to their saddle-bows, but there are no

prisoners
the
men
take no quarter
women and
the
chil-
dren are hidden beforehand in places where none care to
Here comes the head of a column returning
seek them.
from a night raid
The
in the forest.
faster
grows the
when
in,
rear
nearer
firing
They surround and

they rush
its
is
not yet in sight
it
comes
fighting
it is
open space, the
yells of the
press on the rearguard from
enemy.
all
sides;
sword in hand, and wait only the moment
debouches on the clearing to pour in a hail of
it
bullets.
fresh battalion
and
hurried forward to disengage

infantry
to the
one can hear the
and canister from the
and enable the column
to
it
several
;
guns have to be
the running
of the
fire
the onslaught,
artillery arrest
emerge from the
forest
without
useless sacrifice.
"
Men
begins.
is
are sent out to cut grass,
and
at once a fresh fight
Fuel for cooking purposes or for the bivouac
only obtained by force of arms.
If
on the
fires
far side of
the
brushwood or any semblance of a hollow

the watering-place must be covered by half a battalion and
rivulet there is
artillery,
otherwise the horses will be shot
One day
off.
is
like another
day will be repeated to-morrow

everywhere
forests,
that
down
or driven
which happened
everywhere
and the Tchetchens are
yester-
are mountains,
fierce
and
tire-
less fighters.
"
The
order of march and disposition of the
just such as best suited the circumstances
the war, and never varied.
camp were
and character of
The column was arranged
as

follows
one battalion marched in
with a few light
field,
mountain guns.
port
one in
front,
269
rear,
each
pieces, or, if the roads were unsuitable,
The
cavalry, reserves, artillery,
and
trans-
occupied the centre, and were covered by infantry
marching in
on
line
In front of the advance
either side.
guard, behind the rearguard, and
column
for
full
its
on both flanks of the
length went the sharpshooters, with
and mountain guns.
their reserves
open places these flanking
On
the level or on
lines or chains kept at a
good
musket shot from the column, but on entering a forest they

marched as the ground permitted, striving as much as pos-
was too
deadly when directed at a compact body of troops. The
soldiers called this carrying the column in a box.'
On the
march the whole of the fighting went on in the covering
sible to
keep the enemy's
fire
at a distance, for it
'
lines
in front when advancing,
and nearly
work and
went in
all
and strayed
retreating
the time on either flank, where the hardest
greatest
pairs,
when
at the rear
danger
lay.
The
sharpshooters,
who
often lost sight of each other in the forest
then the Tchetchens would
rise as it
were out
them to
the rescue. The
of the ground, rush at the isolated couples and cut
come to
movements of these skirmishers were seldom visible from
the road followed by the column, as they were hidden by
the trees and inequalities of the ground, so communication
was kept up with them by means of horns, signal numbers
pieces before their comrades could
being given to the detached bodies of troops,

or flank,
and these numbers frequently changed,
enemy should
required to
ment or
rear, front,
learn to distinguish them.
know
detail,
When
lest the
it
was
the whereabouts of any particular detacha pre-arranged interrogatory signal was
1
Later, Veliameenoff increased the number to four ; General Freitag by
1845 had brought them up to twenty and more.
270
blown and the

their
numbers
then, judging
by the sound, orders were
given to increase the pace, halt, or close
might be.
It
answered with
signallers of all the parties
in,
as the case
sometimes happened that the enemy's bullets
found their way into the midst of the troops, but
the
mountaineers rarely succeeded in breaking through the

chains of skirmishers and falling on the column
itself.
During the whole of the expedition of 1832 I can only
remember four such occasions.

"The camp was always disposed in a square, the
infantry and artillery on the sides, the cavalry and transWhen the force was a small one,
port in the middle.
a laager was formed with the baggage
a thin chain of pickets was posted
By
a musket shot from the tents.
all
By day
carts.
round the camp,
night the number of
sharpshooters was increased, the reserves were advanced,
and in front of
were
set
all,
dark,
after
The
whereabouts.
dangerous spots,
in
secret
pickets
enemy should know their

silence was enjoined on them,
the
lest
strictest
and they were not allowed to challenge any one except
by
whistling,
even
rustling,
and they had orders

if
uncertain as to
to
its
fire
at
the least
On
cause.
each
face of the square parties were told off to reinforce the
These
pickets in case of a real attack.

front of the tents with their guns
The remaining
soldiers
troubled themselves
and
little
men
lay
down
in
and cartridge pouches.
officers
slept
undressed and
about the bullets with which
the Tchetchens favoured us nearly every night, creeping
up
to the
On
camp
the
in spite of all precautions."
18th Kazi
against the Kussians.
Moulla
scored
his
last
Appearing suddenly in the neigh-
bourhood of Ameer-Hadji-Yourt, on the Terek,

ceeded
in
drawing
success
500
of
the
Grebensky
he sucCossacks
271
some 20 versts away into the forest, then, falling

upon them suddenly from all sides, he completely decommander, 1
feated
them,
officer,
and 104 men, and wounded 3
men.
Eussian
the
killed
and 42
officers
Six days afterwards Baron

meenoff,
him
another
for
commander-in-chief
the
stormed
Rosen
with
rather Velia-
or
everything
left
aoul
the
loss
little
to
Gherment-
of
choug, at that time the largest and richest in Tchetchnia,

containing,
as
Kazi
600 houses.
over
did,
it
said to have
is
MoulU
been in the neighbourhood, but beyond
sending a small party of Murids to help in the defence,
he appears to have
the unfortunate
inhabitants had no
defend the village in a nearly
to
Russians
the
left
As
unmolested.
attempt
the
guns,
country
flat
against
army furnished with artillery was of

But the defence was conducted with
well-appointed
course hopeless.
the most desperate
heroism, especially on the part of

band of Murids and a few of the inhabitants.
The greater portion of the aoul was taken as soon as
the
little
Veliameenoff gave
word,
the
but
admirably
that
cool
commander, to the disgust of those who did not know
him
well,
position,
insisted,
on giving
in peace,
when once the

them ample time
calculating that the fiery natives
fight
Russians,
like
Lord
full.
would lose
sailors,
by a devoted band of Tchetchens and the

Colonel Volzhinsky.
Rosen to Tchernisheff, 22nd August 1832
Tchernisheff, 27th August, 1832

3
Native houses.
Akti,
viii.
Akti,
p. 685.
would
At one end of
the village, however, there were three sahlias
in
while the more
Howe's
the better with their bellies
all
to eat their dinner
their nerve under the ordeal of waiting,
phlegmatic
were
troops
viii.
occupied
Daghestani
p. 683.
Rosen to
272
Murids.
General Tornau must
tell
the
of what
story
followed.
"Hearing that the Tchetchens, who had shut themselves in the three houses and refused quarter, were
firing hard, and had already killed a lieutenant-colonel
wounded
and
the
several
out with
set
staff)
Vdlkhovsky
soldiers,
(chief
of
Briimmer, commanding
Colonel
and Bogdan6vitch to settle

the affair in person. I was to guide them by the road
I had already found through the village.
The houses
were surrounded by a triple chain of sharpshooters, lying
the
Vsiovolovsky,
artillery,
down,
behind
the
wattled
and
fences
dared to show himself to
the
lay
down behind
up, and the
end
ploughed
shot
end.
to
aim;
unerring
the fence, seeing no profit in
exposing ourselves as targets.
from
one
unwary
enemy, for the
were punished by bullets directed with
and we too
No
trees.
light
gun was brought
through the
After the
second
three
round,
houses
however,
we were hitting our own

side.
If we cleared even one side
and reserves it would open a way of
people ran to say that
people
on the other
of the
sharpshooters
to
the
orders
houses,
done!
escape
enemy, and this was not to be thought

were given to
cease
only from one
if
In the
first
firing
side.
place,
and
More
set
fire
easily
of,
to
said
so
the
than
a layer of clay a foot thick
protected the inner wattled walls, and, secondly, the walls
themselves
deadly
were
rifles.
loopholed
and bristling with

However, two sappers were found willing
to undertake the job.
board by way of
all
over
Pushing
shield,
in front of them an oaken

and carrying bundles of straw
and brushwood, they crawled to the narrow side of the

end house, broke through the clay foundation with great
difficulty,
and
fired the
wall,
which began
to smoulder

under
to
fireproof covering.
its
273
The Tchetchens continued
even from this side until the heat drove them
fire
from the burning wall. The sappers were now joined

by a couple of artillerymen, also volunteers, who climbed
on to the flat roof by the burnt wall, took the hand
grenades from the sappers, lighted the tubes, and threw
them down through the wide chimney
into the building,
We
crowded thickly with the defenders.
heard the
first
two grenades burst but not the rest, and learnt later
that the Tchetchens sat upon them and put them out
before the powder
caught
Little
fire.
by
the
little
fire
extended to the remaining two saklias ; there was nothing
was
enemy but
the
left for
sorry for the brave fellows,
ddk Cossack,
to
propose
Atarshtchikoff,
and ordered an old Moz-
who
should
they
that
served
lay
promising them in that case, in the

mander-in-chief,
V61khovsky
to surrender or burn.
not only their
lives,
as
interpreter,
down
name
of the com-
but
the right of
their
arms,
exchange with Russian prisoners, thus giving them the
hope of some day returning to their

ceased
in
when
the
to
The
firing
Atarshtchikoff went forward and called
Tchetchen that he wanted to
listened
families.
proposal,
out
The defenders
for some
parley.
together
conferred
and then a half-naked Tchetchen, black with

smoke, came out, and made a short speech, followed by
minutes,
a volley from
this effect
'
We
of the Russians
as
we
all
What
the loopholes.
want no quarter
is to let
lived, refusing
" Orders were
he said was to
our families
know
that
submission to any foreign yoke.'
now
given to
fire
the houses from
The sun had set, and the picture

and ruin was lighted only by the red glow
The Tchetchens, firmly resolved to die,
sides.
we ask
we died
the only grace
all
of destruction
of the flames.
set
up
their
274
death-song, loud at
but sinking lower and lower
first,
numbers diminished under the influence of
as their
However, death by
and smoke.
such as not
had strength
all
fire
is
bear.
to
On
door of a burning house flew open;

stood
human
There was
being.
Suddenly the
the threshold
flash
whistled past our ears, and, brandishing his
dashed
Tchetchen
straight
clad in
Atarshtchikoff,
come within ten

put a bullet in his naked
air,
bullet
Broad-shouldered
quietly took
paces,
breast.
self to his full height, and,
aim,
and
The Tchetchen sprang
rose again to his
fell,
sword, the
chain mail, let the raging des-
perado
high in
us.
at
fire
terrible agony,
feet,
stretched him-
bending slowly forward,
fell
dead on his native soil. Five minutes after the scene

was repeated another sprang out, fired his gun, and,
;
brandishing his sword, broke through two lines of sharpshooters,
saklias
to
began to
garden
trampled
bayoneted by the
fall
fall
;
The burning
third.
asunder, scattering sparks over the
from the smoking ruins crawled
six
wounded Daghestanis, alive by some miracle the soldiers

Not
lifted them up and carried them to the ambulance.
;
one Tchetchen was taken alive
seventy-two
men ended
their lives in the flames
"The
last
act of the bloody
night covered the scene.

according to his conscience
way
drama was played out;
Each one had done his duty

the chief actors had gone their
into eternity; the rest, together with the
mere spec-
tators,
with hearts like stones, sought the refuge of their
tents;
and maybe more than one in the depth of his

why must such things be 1 Is there
being asked himself,
no room
for all
on
this earth
without distinction of speech
or faith?"
If any such feelings stirred the Eussian commanders,

they did not allow
interfere
to
it
275
with the carrying out
of Veliameenoff's plan of campaign.
Greater Tchetchnia,
was devastated with fire and sword, and a hatred

sown and watered with blood, the traces of which are still
in turn,
visible after seventy years.
Amongst those who

affair
distinguished themselves in this
were Baron Zass and Captain Albrandt, the
victim of unrequited love,
who
latter
sought death in vain.
They
Brummer commanded the

artillery at the siege of Kars in 1855
the mere name
of Zass grew to be a terror to the tribes across the Kouban
will both be
met with
again.
Albrandt, by a rare combination of tact and courage, suc-
ceeded in the dangerous and delicate mission of bringing

1838) a whole battalion of Russian
back from Persia
(in
deserters.
be noticed that
It will
Klugenau,
all these, like
Rosen, and Tornau himself, bear foreign names. 1
The wounded were
and when the

convoy returned, Veliameenoff, with half the little army
(about 4500 men), penetrated the heart of Itchkeria,
sent
back
to Grozny,
recovered at Benoi the cannon taken from VoLzhinsky, 2
and destroyed Dargo.
That
aoul, in after years a lure to
Russian commanders, was not then the residence of the
Imam, nor did the men of Daghestan take

defence, but otherwise the conditions were
and the complete success of the
much
earlier
strikingly in contrast with subsequent
part in its
the same,
expedition,
failures,
so
must be
attributed almost wholly to the military genius of Velia-
meenoff,
who minimised the danger by reducing his

much as possible, and refusing to be drawn
transport as
beyond the
limits of
what he considered
safe for the
mere
sake of glory.
]
See Rosen's report to Tchernisheff, 27th August 1832: Akti,

Rosen to Tchernisheff Akti, viii. p. 690.
:
viii.
p. 684.
276
The
by the
obtained
results
"submission" of 80
villages,
the Russian losses
officer
were
expedition
the
the total destruction of 61;
and 16 men
killed, 18 officers
and 333 men wounded.

Kazi
now
Moulla
to
retired
and with
Daghestan,
Shamil's aid set to work to prepare for the defence of
Ghimree, for he
knew
end was at hand, and
that the
determined to die worthily.
By
the beginning of October the Eussian commander-
having finished for the time with Tchetchnia and
in-chief,
entered Daghestan, made ready for the attack on the Murid

leader's last stronghold.
The winter had
set in
unusually early, and the snow lay
thick on the heights, while the grapes
the vineyards below.
hung ungathered
in
Then, as now, there were two paths
leading from Shoura to Ghimree, both involving an abrupt

descent of nearly
5000
the
feet,
one through
Erpelee
over the mountain of that name, the other, also through

Erpelee, but then turning to the right past Karanai, and,
after
reaching the crest of the ridge, zigzagging diagonally
down
the south-western face of the mountain to a junction
with the Erpelee path in the great ravine above Ghimree.

Neither route was, at the time in question,
for the
fit
passage of an army, even according to the very heroic

ideas
on such matters obtaining in Daghestan, but that
by Karanai was the

therefore
natives,
less precipitous of the two,
generally,
deemed
it
they were coming
down
The
next to impossible for the
Russians to achieve a descent in

if
and was
chosen for the main line of approach.
force,
like rain
and jeeringly asked
from the clouds.
Velia-
meenoff in reply reminded them, grimly enough, that other

things
stones, to wit
mountain side
were apt
to
come hurtling down the
and, taking advantage of a thick mist, he

pushed forward his advanced guard
277
as far as the ravine
unmolested, the soldiers climbing in places from ledge to

ledge by means of ropes or ladders.
was
make
to
The next thing
to
do
the road passable for the bulk of the army, and
in a couple of days this
was done, though the
artillery, all
but the mountain guns and some very light mortars, had to
be
left
behind.
Klugenau, meantime, with one battalion of the Apsheron regiment, a mountain battery, and some squadrons
of irregular native horse, was holding the crest of the ridge,
whence he could command the Erpelee

path; and Akhmet Khan, with native militia, which for
want of provisions and warm clothing dwindled rapidly
from desertion, was set to watch the road from Irganai.
These operations had taken from the 10th to the 13th
October, and on the 14th Baron Rosen, with the rest of
During the
the army, marched from Shour to Karanai.
away
to the left,
next two days the whole of the troops successfully accomplished the
first
part of the descent, and were concentrated
in or near the ravine, with the exception of those left to
guard the guns at Karanai or the lines of communication.
By
the 17th
all
was ready
for the assault.
Kazi Moulla and Shamil,
knew
after their recent experience,
the Russians too well to trust entirely to natural
defences.
Some
five
or
six
versts
above Ghimree, but
below the junction of the paths, they had built a triple

line of wall across the ravine, flanked and commanded on
either side
by breastworks of
stone.
The
spot
was well
chosen, and full advantage taken of the natural strength
Near the outer wall were two small stonebuilt saklias or houses, to which the Russians paid little
heed, not guessing that in them would centre the main
of the position.
interest of
an historic day.
278
Veliameenoff's plan of attack was to drive the defenders
from the breastworks on the
left,
thus gaining a position
which was then to

be stormed from the front. But the movement failed owing
to an error made by the leader to whom it was entrusted.
commanding the
rear of the outer wall,
Missing his way in the wood, he came out in front of the

wall
and endeavoured to carry
itself,
by direct attack.
it
Other regiments seeing what had happened moved forward
back with heavy
At
this
party was beaten
The storming
in support, but vainly.

loss.
moment Hamzad Bek, with
a large body of
Murids, was seen in the act of descending by the road from
and
Irganai,
seemed as though the Russian van under
it
Veliameenoff would be cut
off
from the main body under
Rosen.
Luckily, however, Klugenau's detachment appeared
at the
right
Hamzad
in turn
between
MoulU
moment
two
at the
top of the Erpelee path
was in imminent danger of being caught
fires,
and
hastily retreated,
leaving Kazi
to his fate.
who
Relieved of anxiety in this direction, Veliameenoff,
saw that the attack had
through faulty exe-
failed solely
cution, ordered its repetition in strict accordance with the
original plan, a decision fully justified
by the
First
result.
one of the breastworks was taken, then the outer wall, and
the
men
of the Tiflis regiment pursued the flying
rapidly that they had no time to

walls,
which were captured one
At one
defended.
fighting.
or
A battalion
two
man
enemy
so
the remaining two
after the other almost
places, however, there
was
un-
fierce
of the 41st Rifle regiment drove the
defenders of one of the uppermost works on to a ledge

"
where there was no alternative but
or
throw themselves
destruction.
over
the
to die
sword in hand,
rocks to almost
They fought desperately;
certain
more than
sixty

were killed on the
and the
spot,
rest
279
threw themselves
down, and for the most part were dashed to pieces."
The
Eussians gave no quarter, and according to another account

hurled the unfortunate Murids over the rocks, the reason
given being that they had lost their regimental commander,
whom
Bogdandvitch, for
they had a great affection.
monument stands in Shoura to this day.

The surviving Murids were now
was
His
in full flight,
and
army bivouacked where

it
stood, without attempting an advance on Ghimree.
Meantime the two stone saklias already mentioned had
it
already
dark,
the
so
been the scene of a desperate defence, recalling that of
Ghermentchoug, but much more momentous in
con-
its
They were occupied by a band of some sixty

Murids, who had either purposely remained to die, or
had been cut off unexpectedly when the outer line of wall
was taken. The main force of the Eussians had swept
sequences.
onward, but two companies of sappers and other details
were there with a couple of mountain guns and Velia-
meenoff himself, who, not knowing

ordered the saklias to be cleared.
from
who was
the whole
by one and two by two, died
number only two
him
in
The
good
fighting.
Of
escaped, but of these one was
Shamil, whose marvellous strength,

ship served
assault.
asked nor received any quarter, but
neither
sallying out one
them,
After a few rounds
the guns the troops rushed to the
defenders
in
stead.
agility,
and swordsman-
With an Alvar ado's leap he
landed behind the line of soldiers about to
fire
a volley
through the raised doorway where he stood, then turning

and whirling his sword in that terrible left hand he cut
down
three of them, but was bayoneted by the fourth clean
through the breast.

in one hand, cut
Undismayed, he grasped the weapon
down
its
owner, pulled
it
out of his
own
280
body, and escaped into the forest, though in addition to
the bayonet
wound he had
a rib and shoulder broken by
stones.
After hiding for three days he
managed
to reach
Ount-
soukoul, and there lay for twenty-five days more between
and death,
life
for the Russian bayonet
Then
through one lung.
renowned
from his
who had also been in hiding, returned, and

wound a mixture of wax, tar, and butter in
sister
Fatima brought on a
relapse,
and again
The cause assigned, and

believed by Shamil himself, was the momentary
months
implicitly
Aziz, a
Very soon Shamil was convalescent, but a
equal parts.
for
Abdoul
leech,
applied to the
visit
had passed right
his father-in-law,
his life
was
in danger.
presence in his sick-room of the jewels and articles of gold
and
silver
saved by Fatima from Ghimree
for,
according
to the superstition current in Daghestan, precious stones
and
metals exert a maleficent influence on wounds and diseases

of all kinds,
and should never be allowed
with a sick or wounded person.

Shamil's escape, even
seemed a matter of
made
little
if
in the
same room
known, would
at that time have
weight in the light of a discovery
went down on the scene of carnage that
ere the sun
Amongst the dead who lay so thick

in front of the two stone huts, attention was drawn to the
majestic figure of a man who in death had assumed the
Mussulman attitude of prayer, with one hand grasping his
chill
October evening.
1
The medical knowledge of the natives was, as might be expected, of the
most primitive nature but it was far otherwise with surgery, in which their
They amputated limbs without hesitation, and
skill was quite remarkable.
very often at the joint, with no other instrument than the Jcindjal, and no
medicaments but some such mixture as that of Abdoul Aziz yet the patient
generally recovered, and that so completely as to feel no after effects. Indeed,
the success of the natives in treating wounds was so well established that
Russian officers frequently sent for them, and were cured after their own
surgeons had given up hope. The explanation is, presumably, that though
they knew nothing of microbes, their treatment was antiseptic.
;

beard, while the
other pointed to heaven.
281
When some
natives were called to identify the dead they recognised to

their horror the features of their
Im&m, Kazi Moulla, the

The news
leader of the holy war, the chosen of Allah
spread rapidly, to the unbounded joy of the Russians, to the
Many
deep dismay of the Faithful.

believe
it
possible that
God had
of the latter refused to
allowed His representative
by the bayonet of a Giaour, so to convince

on earth to
them and procure their submission the body was exposed
fall
some days and then taken
for
capital,
and buried above
to Tarkou, the Shamkhal's
at Bournaya.
In
sent a body of 200 horsemen by night,
and brought
after years
exhumed
Shamil
the corpse,
back to Ghimree.
it
was probably due at least as much to the death of

Kazi Moulla and the absence of Shamil as to the previous
day's defeat that on the 18th October Klugenau, who had
It
command
been placed in
of the advanced guard, entered
Ghimree without a shot being fired. Just a week later the

army set out on its return to Shoura. The Imam was dead,
Shamil a fugitive desperately wounded, Ghimree taken,
and the Russians might be pardoned
Muridism was
at
for thinking that
an end and their hold over Daghestan
assured.
The Russian
losses are officially given as 1 officer
and 40
and 320 men wounded, 18 officers

and 53 men contusedtotal, 452. The Murids left 192
dead on the field of battle on their side no wounded are
men
19
killed,
officers
mentioned.
General Tornau,
account from those
who was not present but had his

who were, tells some characteristic
anecdotes of Veliameenoff.
See also Veliameenoff's report to

Kcwlcazshy Sbornik, vol. xx. p. 121.
of the 21st October 1832 Akti, viii. p. 558 and Rosen's to Tchernisheff
2
Op. cit., section viii. p. 687.
of the next day ibid., p. 561.
1
Rosen
282
When
told that the
troops he asked,
Karanai road was impassable
for
"Could a dog pass that way?" When

dog might," he said, " That's enough
told, " Well, yes, a
Where
a dog can pass, a Eussian soldier can
When
drum,
sat
the
first
"
!
attack on the wall failed he called for a
down on
it,
and began calmly inspecting the
enemy's position through his telescope.
His presence was
soon noticed, and the bullets whistled round.

Captain Bartenieff, of the
staff,
was
hit,
and
fell
Veliameenoff, in his usual quiet way, said, "

friend
might have
fallen
somewhere
put the glass to his eye.

Prince, of Mingrelia,
little
who commanded
else,"
Presently
against him.
My very
dear
and once more
later the Dadian,
or
the Erivan regiment,
was in, implored him to move

Veliameenoff said quietly, " Yes, Prince, this
seeing the danger his general

farther back.
is
indeed a dangerous spot, so will you kindly lead your
regiment at once against those breastworks on the right ?

Albrandt again failed to meet the death he sought for
an obdurate
breast,
fair one's sake.
married him.
The
bullet struck
him on the
but was turned by a brass eikon he wore.
satisfactory to
know
It is
that the lady eventually gave way,
and
KavJcazsky Sbornik, vol. xx. pp. 107 et seq., gives an account of the
official sources, but it lacks completeness.
Shamil's
taking of Ghimree from

escape, for instance,
and the finding
of the
Imam's body are not mentioned.
CHAPTER XVIII
1832-1837
Hamzad, the second Imam Slaughter of the Avar Khans Lanskoi takes
Ghimree Klugenau takes Gherghebil and Gotsatl Death of Hamzad
Shamil, third Imam The affair at Ashiltd bridge
Hamzad was born

north-east of
in
1789 at New-Gotsatl,
Khounzakh, of djanha
stock.
12
His
miles
father,
his courage and talents, raided

and
was held in high honour by
Kakhetia many times,
Alexander, noted
Akhmet Khan.
Koran
first
at
for
Hamzad
learned Arabic and studied the
Tchokh and afterwards
Khounzakh, where,
services, Pakhou-Beekhe
consideration of his father's
in
him
took
When
and
at
house and treated him as a son.

his education was completed he returned to Gotsatl,
for
to drink.
into
her
some years led a
life
of idleness and gave
way
In 1829 his uncle, Imam-Ali, reproached him,
and pointed to the example of Kazi Moulla, who, though

of low birth and of no better education than himself,
had become a leader among men.

by
Hamzad was
so struck
this reproof that he set out immediately for Ghimree,
and, joyfully welcomed

his
by Kazi Moulla, became one of
most zealous and valued supporters.
of the Murids at
After the defeat
Khounzakh he undertook an
main
expedition
and achieved
some slight successes against the Russians, but was afterwards completely defeated, whereupon that country was
to the Djar district south of the
annexed to the empire.
Hamzad
offered his submission
on condition of receiving a pension,

1
The djankas were the children
of
chain,
and was sent to
khans or beks by morganatic marriages.
284
Tiflis,
where he was promptly
lease to the intercession of Asian,
had very
a fact that
owing
He owed
arrested.
Khan
of
Kazi-Koumoukh,
serious consequences
for the latter,
Pakhou-Beekhe" having broken
to
his re-
off
a marriage
arranged between him

what she considered a better match with the son of the
Shamkhal of Tarkhou, had vowed vengeance on the
khansha, and saw in Hamzad an apt instrument to execute it.
He artfully suggested that Muridism would never
and her daughter, Sultanetta, for
succeed so long as this detestable old
woman
ruled in
same time excited his cupidity and

ambition by describing her wealth and the power neces-
Avaria, and at the
sarily attaching to the possession
of the khanate.
Hamzad
was not in a position to undertake any movement against

Pakhou-Beekhe just then, but the insinuations of Asian
Khan sank
on.
He
deep into his mind and bore bloody
undertook another and
dition against Zakatali,
Tchoumkeskent when
Moulla at Ghimree
less successful expe-
still
and in 1831 was in command
that place
In 1832, as
shevsky.
fruit later
stated,
was stormed by Mikla-
he
but soon
at
failed to relieve
after,
Kazi
that leader being
dead and Shamil at death's door from his wounds, he was

elected
Im&m.
During the next two years he was engaged
with Shamil's help in spreading the

consolidating his
well in
own power,
in
new
doctrines
and
which he succeeded so
spite of one or two checks
he
was beaten
off
by the inhabitants of Golotl and wounded in the neck
by a bullet
that by August
1834 not only the Koisoubou
and Andalal communities had recognised

but
all
Avaria, except the capital, which he
to invest.
his
authority,
now proceeded
1
Following the example of Kazi Moulla, he punished himself for a failure
against the Akoushintsi by twenty-five days' imprisonment and 101 strokes
with the rod
Akti,
viii.
p. 584.

Pakhou-Beekhe had succeeded
Murids
in beating off the
in 1830, but now, seeing that resistance
was
285
she
useless,
agreed to accept Muridism, though not the Ghazav^t, and
Khan, a boy of eight years,

The latter next demanded that
sent her younger son, Boulatch

as a hostage to
her
Hamzad.
remaining sons, Abou-Noutsal and
Oumma
(Omar),
At
should come into his camp for further negotiations.

first
Oumma
was sent
and he not
alone,
mother asked her remaining son
When
him.
he refused, knowing well what would be
who was anything but
want, then, to lose your last son
with twenty of his noukkers
which was pitched some two
He was
and protect
to follow
the end, the fiery khansha upbraided
Abou-Noutsal,
returning, his
him
that,
as a coward.
very well, I go
"
cried,
You
and
"
set out for Hamzad's camp,
versts
from the royal palace.
Imam, who
and led him
received with due honour by the
fessed complete submission to his will,
the tent where his younger brother was
prointo
but after a while,
having disarmed suspicion, he made some excuse, and with

his
Murids
left
the tent.
moved by some remnant
It is said that at this
of compunction or
wavered in his determination
him
to
moment,
he
loyalty,
but that Shamil nerved
the deed of treachery with the words, " Strike
while the iron
is
hot, otherwise
you
will repent it."
then gave orders to shoot down the noukkers.
Khan, hearing the
firing,
came out of the
tent
He
Oumma
and was
Personal attendants of Daghestan rulers and beks.

The assassination of the Avar Khans shows the darker side of Shamil's
nature. It was necessary, indeed, to the success of his cause, and for him that
was enough. Throughout his career he hesitated at no deed, however bloody,
when that was in question ; and in this particular case he found ample justification in his own eyes and probably in those of most of his followers in the
fact that the ruling family at Khounzakh was not only friendly to the Russians,
i
but actually in their pay.
286
Abou-Noutsal, seeing
immediately killed;
drew his
this,
sword and rushed on his enemies " like a raging lion,"

and left; but
as eye-witnesses related, killing right
though
he
have disposed of no
to
said
is
twenty of the Murids, he received
and
finally
many
less
terrible
sank and died on the body of his
Hamzad now
than
wounds,
last victim.
took possession of Khounzakh, had Pakhou-
Beekhe"s head struck
and proclaimed himself khan.
off,
Abou-Noutsal's widow was spared on account of her preg-
and bore
nancy,
son
who became Khan
of Avaria.
Asian Khan, on hearing what had happened at Khounzakh,
sent
threatening
tions;
follows
the
letters
him with
other,
dire
Hamzad, one
son.
vengeance for killing his
Would
to
The next thing
Hamzad
rela-
there were
if
to
do
more such
henceforth you
to subdue the
is
necessary I will help you
took his advice and attacked Tsoudak-
was driven
Khounzakh.
har, but
to
God
degenerate days;
Tsoudakhar community, and

secretly."
publication,
faithfully.
my
for
accompanied by a gold watch, ran as

Hamzad Bek you have kept your
brave fellows in these

are
to
" Thanks,
promise
two
He
off ignominiously.
then returned
On 13th September 1834 General Lanskoi, with Klugenau

under his command, made a raid by the Erpelee path to
punish Ghimree for treachery, that
is,
for not
keeping to
The
inhabitants,
the agreement forced upon them in 1832.
thinking that the intention was to invade Avaria, retired

across the bridge
to
some entrenchments they had pre-
pared with a view to disputing the passage.
Seeing
this,
Klugenau sent Captain Tarasevitch with two companies

to storm the bridge.
The operation was carried out gallantly and with complete success, and, the bridge being
destroyed, the Kussians proceeded to
sack the aoul and

devastate
orchards.
the
and extensive vineyards,
rich
287
fields,
and
In October of the same year Klugenau make an expedition into Avaria, took Gherghdbil without opposition, and
stormed Gotsatl.
Soon afterwards Hamzad met the
fate
he richly deserved.
After the manner of perverts, from an idle, dissolute fellow
he had become as fanatical as any of the Murids.
He
made his followers cut close their mustachios to distinguish

them from the unregenerate, and strictly forbade the use
of tobacco and strong drink.
This prohibition of smoking,
a comparatively trifling matter, was the immediate cause of
One day
his assassination.
shop where several
men were
ably, the forbidden weed.
and
one, but in vain,
his treasurer entering a
work-
employed, smelt, unmistak-
He
tried to discover the guilty
left uttering
sundry threats.
Amongst
those present were two brothers,
Osman and Hadji Mourad,
Oumma Khan
had been entrusted as a
to
whose father
child, after
a custom widely spread in the Caucasus and
elsewhere.
According to local
ideas,
this
made Hadji
Mourad and Osman his foster-brothers, and imposed on

them the obligations of blood-vengeance. They had been
deeply moved at the murder of the khans, and now one of
their companions, some say their uncle, turned to them
and reproached them with having allowed their deaths to
pass unavenged.
Irritated
by the threats just heard, and
remembering the wrong done them, Osman and Hadji
Mourad
professed their readiness to kill
conspiracy
1
was
Hamzad, and a
at once formed for that purpose.
As
usual
Bodenstedt, whose book, though containing much that is of interest, is

mistakes and rendered quite untrustworthy by his blind hatred of
Russia, states that Shamil now came up and retook Ghimree by storm, putting
Lanskoi to flight ; but this is quite at variance with all the Russian accounts,
and is not borne out by the official figures of their losses, forty-four killed and
wounded : Die Volker des Kauhxsus, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1848.
full of
288
there was a traitor in the camp, and
warning from a Murid to
whom
Hamzad received
timely
the secret was divulged.
with the question, "
Can you stop the Angels

But he met it
of Death when they come for my soul? If not, go home
and leave me in peace. What is decreed by God cannot
be avoided
die."
if
am
to die to-morrow,
Friday, the 19th September,
to-morrow I shall
was a religious
festival,
and Hamzad as chief of the Faithful would go, of course,

Once more his faithful Murid urged him
to the mosque.
to beware, giving positive information of the conspirators'
intentions,
and even mentioning the more dangerous of
them by name. Hamzad contented himself with forbidding

any one to come to the mosque in a bourka, so that
weapons might be seen, and those carrying them disarmed.
At midday the Muezzin called the Faithful to prayer, and
the doomed Imam, accompanied by twelve of his principal
adherents, entered the sacred building. The mosque was
low and dark within.
and was about to pray,
Hamzad had reached his place,

when he perceived several kneeling
figures wrapped, in spite of his prohibition, in bourkas,
turned towards them.
and
Osman, who was of them, thereupon
stood up, and calling in a loud voice to his companions,

"
Why
do ye not
rise
when your
with you?" drew a pistol and

severely.
great
fired,
Imam comes to pray

wounding Hamzad
Other shots followed, and the assassin of the
by many
bullets.
Osman was
who in turn were attacked
and slain by the conspirators and many others who came
running up on hearing that Hamzad was dead. The wretch
who had betrayed the secret was pursued to a small tower,
khans
fell
dead,
pierced
immediately killed by the Murids,
where he was surrounded and burnt

1
For the death
p. 588.
alive.
of Hamzad, see Rosen's report to Tchernisheff Akti, viii.

Khounzakh was the scene of many other bloody episodes, of which
:
289
Shamil was away from Khounzakh at this moment, but

on learning what had occurred collected a force and went
to Gotsatl.
Here he
Hamzad's uncle
seized on the treasury,
and forcing
to surrender the boy-prince Boulatch
caused him to be strangled and thrown over a

the Avar Koisou,
He
Ghimree.
or,
as
Khan,
cliff
into
some say, from the bridge above
then went to Ashiltd, and was proclaimed
Imam.
In the
week
March 1837 disaster overtook a

command. That general with the
troops in northern Daghestan had been placed by Baron
Rosen at the disposal of General 6s6, commanding the
left flank of the Line, and the latter, in order to withdraw
first
of
portion of Klugenau's
Shamil's attention from his operations against Tchetchnia
and Andee, had ordered Klugenau to make a demonstration in force without delay in whatever direction
he con-
sidered best for the attainment of that object.
Klugenau chose the
" Ashilta " bridge
and leaving 495 men, including

he sent
480
as his objective,
invalids, to garrison Shoura,
off
the 1st battalion of the Apsheron regiment,
strong,
under Colonel Avramenko, on the night of
the 27th February, to Karanai, where he joined
day with the
rest of the expeditionary force,
them next
363 bayonets,
making 843 in all.

Rather more than half-way, some 2500 feet, down the
zigzag path from Karanai to Ghimree there is a space of
ground under
cliffs
of sandstones showing horizontal layers
the most striking, the death of Khotchbar of Ghedatl,
is
the subject of a very
(Appendix I.).
1
Early Russian writers on the war, be it noted, gave it that name, to
which we must perforce adhere, for the somewhat inadequate reason that the
characteristic song
road over it led to the aoul so called, which, however, lies several miles up the
Andee Koisou. Recent authors, misled by the name, evidently imagine that
the bridge and aoul are close together, and give confused accounts of events
connected with them.
290
of delicate colours
for a little
way
red, green, yellow,
the slope
is
and white.
Here
comparatively gentle, and, as
usual in Daghestan, advantage has been taken of
it
to
by means of terraces a small area of arable land,

on which in autumn ripe golden maize stands in strange
create
contrast to the
snow above.
copious spring of clear,
fresh water wells from the rock and falls plashing from
one to another of a series of wooden drinking-troughs at

the roadside.
This
spot,
known
Ghimree," Klugenau
March the whole

army assembled, and here he was visited by
reached that night

little
as " the Spring of
from Ghimree,
here on the 1st
whom
of his
elders
he reassured as to his intentions, in
They informed him that

their neighbours from Ountsoukoul had arrived to the
number of 500, offering to help them against the Kussians,
but that they had forced them to retire.
Klugenau lost no time in making arrangements for
seizing the bridge, by which the Avar Koisou is spanned
so far as concerned their aoul.
at its narrowest, a
the
few yards only above
its
junction with
Andee Koisou coming from Ashiltd.

The position was
to him from a daring reconnaissance made not long
known
before by his faithful adjutant Yevdokeemoff, under whose
guidance Avramenko, with two companies and a couple of

sent forward by a mere track down
At dawn he took up a position commanding both the passage of the river and the road from
Ghimree, and half-an-hour later the enemy appeared in
light mortars,
was now
the mountain side.
The bridge is of the usual native construction, i.e. on the cantilever prinOnward from the junction of the Koisous to the Caspian the river is
known as the Soulak, a Georgian word meaning "altogether," or, in Avar, Orciple.
i.e. " mingling of the waters,'' being formed of the junction of the
Kara, or Black, the Kazi-Koumoukh, the Avar and the Andee Koisous, but
the word Soulak is commonly enough applied to the two last named by the
natives living on their banks.
Shobai,

force
291
Klugenau himself now
on the opposite heights.
followed by the road, leaving one company to guard the

spring,
and another lower down to bar the approach from
Ghimree in case
movement on the part of the hostile

When still some way from the
bridge he heard the firing, and, judging that the left bank
was in possession of the enemy, sent two natives to Avramenko with a note, asking whether the main body of troops
could join him at the bridge without serious loss, instructing
of a
people of Ountsoukoul.
him, in the contrary event, to hold his position
and then
retreat to
till
night,
Karanai by a path known to Yevdokee-
moff lower down the Soulak.
It will
be understood that
between Avramenko with the advanced guard and Klugenau was a stretch of some mile or two of river bank,
completely
commanded by
enemy on the
opposite
Ivelitch, colonel of the
Apsheron
the
heights.
Major-General Count
regiment,
who had brought
the instructions from Fese, and
accompanied the present expedition out of
curiosity,
begged
Avramenko at the bridge.

His request was categorically refused by Klugenau, notwithstanding which he gradually edged away from the
leave to run the gauntlet and join
latter,
and, once out of sight, ran to the scene of combat.
Here he was promptly wounded in the

binding
it
up, sent a lieutenant with a note to
asking permission to remain.

strict
left
hand, but,
Klugenau
This was granted, but with
injunctions that, as already ordered, the retirement
was not to begin before

Finding that
it
nightfall.
would be impossible to reach the bridge
without the risk of very heavy
losses,
and hearing that the
people of Ountsoukoul, to the number of a thousand, were
again marching on Ghimree, Klugenau determined to retire

to the spring,
and the troops were
at once set in motion.
292
The path
led round at the hack of Ghimree,
long and
difficult.
and was both
was highly probable that, seeing

the people at Ghimree would be
It
the Russians retreating,
tempted to join their neighbours, and take the opportunity

of attacking the small Russian force at a disadvantage and
;
knowing the native character, and their respect for personal

courage and coolness, Klugenau determined now on one of
those many acts of daring which have made his name imperishable in the military annals of the Caucasus.
As the
troops marched past the aoul the inhabitants, fully armed,
poured out in their hundreds, and took up a position on
either side of the path.
A mile or more away those of
Ountsoukoul were hastening across the
fray.
men
It
was a
march
critical
river,
eager for the
moment, but Klugenau,
telling his
and calling to the elders,

They came, followed by the
rest of the villagers, and the Russian general was at once
surrounded by an ever-growing crowd of armed men.
to
quietly sat
on, dismounted,
down on a
Calmly puffing
at his
stone.
cigar,
he reminded the people of
Ghimree that he had saved them from famine in 1832,

when, after the death of Kazi MouM, all their crops had
been destroyed by these same men of Ountsoukoul, who
were now urging them to a deed of treachery that would
inevitably lead to the
most
the Russian Government.

sufficed
with the
elders,
terrible
revenge on the part of
His attitude
and
arguments
and they assured him that they
would neither attack the Russians themselves nor permit

Klugenau then, seeing that his men had
others to do so.
reached the comparative safety of the ravine, and that the
people of Ountsoukoul were almost within musket shot,
asked for his horse, and, quietly mounting while one of

1
Klugenau seldom had a cigar out of his mouth, and at Ishkartee in 1840
smoked one all the time whilst fighting his way with six companies through
Shamil's horde of 10,000 men which had completely surrounded him.
293
the elders held the stirrup, he spoke a few words of friendly
command. When the Ountsoukoul men came running up it was too late. Klugenau
was already in safety. A man of Ghimree, firing his gun
and rode
farewell,
at the stone
after his
where the intrepid general had
sat,
called out
in disgust, "
let
Why, he was absolutely at our mercy, and we

him escape " The Ountsoukoul men were furious and
!
dashed on in pursuit, but they could do nothing, and the

bivouacking on the way, reached Karanai in
Russians,
on the 3rd of March. Here Klugenau found Yevdokeemoff wounded, and from him learnt the disaster that
had meantime overtaken the advanced guard.
safety
It
appeared that Ivelitch had taken
command
at the
bridge by right of seniority, and learning from Lieutenant

Peesareff, in charge of the
that the
enemy were
at
retreat
entreaties
once,
detachment on the Ghimree
pressing
him
notwithstanding
and Klugenau's
been foreseen by
all
side,
hard, gave orders
Colonel
The
instructions.
but Ivelitch himself.
to
Avramenko's
result
had
The enemy
promptly seized the bridge, placed planks across where
had been damaged, and crowded over
With
their superior mobility they soon overtook the
sians,
and swarming up the
and
rear.
named being
kindjals.
shot, the others cut to pieces
Not one
man would have
ened the
men
to cover a ford
line of retreat.
place, in
which
killed, the
first
with swords and
escaped to
Ivelitch, earlier in the day, sent
with forty-five
Rus-
attacked them in flank
most desperate encounter took
Avramenko, and Peesareff were
Ivelitch,
had not
cliffs,
it
to the right bank.
tell
the tale
Captain Kosteerko
whence danger
threat-
This was the only instance in
which the unfortunate major-general showed any military

judgment, and it saved the remnant of the force from annihilation.
Kosteerko had already dispersed a small party of
294
intended to cross by the ford, when he

heard shots coming nearer and nearer. He was soon joined
who had
natives
and learned what had taken

place.
As all his superior officers were dead he took command, and, assisted by Yevdokeemoff, beat off the enemy
and presently, when the latter received the bullet wound
by refugees in twos and
through his
face,
from
threes,
left to right,
which earned him his

him on with
soubriquet of " three-eyed" in after years, sent
wounded to Karanai, and after more fighting eventually

made good his retreat by a roundabout way, without meeting the troops Klugenau had sent off from Karanai to
the
help him. 1
In the summer of
this year (1837)
Kosen decided
send an expedition against Ashilta, and at
first
to
intended
Klugenau with the command, but the relations between the commander-in-chief and his subordinate
were somewhat strained, and eventually General Fese was
to entrust
With the
selected.
this
the
latter
sturdy Austrian
was
at
time at daggers drawn, owing to his report on the

the bridge, in which he put the blame on Klu-
affair at
genau, who, rather than serve under him, pleaded sickness,
and took leave of absence
for the
summer.
This Avar expedition of 1837

intrigue on
the part of
was the
Akhmet Khan,
result of an
of Mekhtoulee,
the temporary ruler of Avaria, and, reading the authorised

accounts,
treachery.
it is
difficult to acquit
Akhmet Khan,
the Russians of deliberate
fearing the growing influence
him to take the

Khounzakh with Russian
of Shamil, wrote secretly to Fe"se\ asking

initiative in offering to garrison
The
troops.
1
latter,
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
viii.
nothing
loth, sent a
proclamation for
pp. 20-30.
The army in the Caucasus, including Cossacks on service, now numbered

on paper 88,536 men, but on the 1st January 1837 the actual strength was less
by 26,662 Kavkauky Sbornik, viii. p. 5.
2

public use, offering help in friendly terms,
Akhmet
time wrote to
inhabitants
consenting
Khounzakh with
and
295
same
at the
stating that in the event of the
he would immediately
a column.
read Fese's proclamation and
river
Tobot; Akhmet
and then returned
letter,
he had no wish
to his "palace," saying that
to see the
and
Russians there, for the Avars were strong enough

brave enough to defend themselves
one of such importance, that he
No
of
but the matter was
left it to their decision.
doubt he had arranged matters beforehand

the
case
meeting,
in any
away by the pithy eloquence
carried
Husayn Youssouf
for
mass meeting was called
on the
5 versts above the capital,
start
Ogli, Elder of Akhaltchee,
" Avars
in favour of inviting Russian help.
"
decided
exclaimed
Husayn, "rather than that these dogs of Murids should

rob and ruin us, will
They
Russians?
away our
with poor,
them?
dwell
be
far
not occupy our houses nor take
They
whose
the
in
are brave and gene-
have never been ashamed to have to do
Why
simple folk like us.
For
closest
rich, peaceful,
insult us
not be better to call in the
last crust of bread.
and so
rous,
will
it
Will
sake?
alliance
and then
it
us see
decided
to
take
to
shall
will dare to
a request that
the
commander-
advantage of the favourable
occasion and plant himself firmly
in
We
who
Akhmet Khan
a military force might be despatched,
first
better
on the 25th of January what had hap-
pened, and receiving from
object
avoid
" Hearing
in-chief
not be
with them?
let
we
should
in
Avaria.
of the proposed expedition was twofold
place,
the
annihilation
of
in
Shamil's influence,
the second, to establish ourselves in Avaria "
instructions
of the commander-in-chief to
The
the
and
(secret
Klugenau on
296
6th February
No. 153
1837,
*).
"The
first
was neces-
amongst both the

semi-independent tribes and those which had submitted,
as Shamil, like Kazi Moulla, would not delay as soon
as he grew strong enough to invade their country and
sary
for
maintenance
the
even the
quiet
The
of the Shamkhal.
territories
best
means
end Baron Rosen considered the destruc-
to achieve this
the headquarters of the Murids, either
of Ashilta,
tion
of
by a sudden movement across the bridge below Ghimree,

or
.
by an open advance in force by way of Gherghebil"

but the Avar expedition was to be carried out in
any
to
case.
On
explain
to
reaching Khounzakh,
the
people
capital took place at their
Klugenau proposed
that
the
own
request,
occupation
of
as the Russian
Government, no matter what the expense and trouble

volved, was always ready to defend those
loyal,
and
that,
finally,
Khounzakh only
for
"our troops
the
in-
who remained
would remain
in
a time, just so long as might be
necessary to ensure peace and establish the authority of
Akhmet Khan."
1
Kavkatssky Sbornik,
Ibid., p. 42.
viii.
pp. 40-41.
CHAPTER XIX
1837
Fe'se's
Avar expedition
visits
The
of
1837 Klugenau's interview with Shamil
the Caucasus
expeditionary corps,
guns,
I.
numbering 4899 bayonets, 18
and 343
mortars,
Nicholas
-Rosen dismissedAlhrandt's mission

Cossacks,
Temir-khan-
left
Shoura in tbe beginning of May, and marching by way

of Djengoutai and Kaka-shoura reached the river Ourma,
distance
of
40
versts
(27
miles), in five
days
Khod-
past Lavashee, through the dark, narrow defile of
jal-Makhee, with
its
perpendicular sides
of
then
1400
feet,
where the column was benighted, but fortunately with
no enemy near to molest

Koisou,
versts
mountain
the
Kazi-Koumoukh
over the
Khodjal-Makhee,
between that
that
the column
for
the
reached
and
across
Kara
difficulties by
and the
river
Marching on under the greatest
Koisou.
a road
beyond
ridge
it;
most part had to be made

the
Avar Koisou
at
for
it,
Karadagh
in
eleven days, and crossing that river entered the khanate
Three days
of Avaria.
reached
serious
later,
the 29th of May, the troops
Khounzakh without
opposition, but
encountered
any
the difficulties of the route
having
may
be imagined from the fact that

corps
this picked
days to
old palace of the khans, unapproachable
on two
cover 100
sides
had taken
twenty
with
The
it
heavy transports,
it
is
true
miles.
owing
to
the precipice
on the edge of which
was soon converted into a fortified

nected with a reservoir by a sheltered way 584
citadel,
stood,
297
it
con-
yards
298
long with a blockhouse half way,

strong enough to bear a cannon on
defended by a tower
its
Leav-
third storey.
ing a garrison of four companies with
all
but six
of
the guns and the heavy transport, and taking only two
weeks' rations, Fese on the 5th June set out for Ount-
soukoul and Ashilta.
The people
of Ountsoukoul submitted on the approach
of the Russians, gave hostages, and promised to return

all
and
captives
point was
categories,
made
deserters.
In
all
such
cases
great
of obtaining the surrender of these two
and throughout the war desertion from the

was very frequent. The natives made
Russian ranks
difficulty in
little
promising the surrender
when
pressed,
but seldom kept then word.

-
There was
June
8th
slope
of
before
the
no proper road, so that
still
the
Betl
rearguard
plateau
reached
overlooking
it
the
was the
northern
Ashilta
and,
meantime, F^se, learning that the combined Russian and

native forces
aoul of
too
Tilitl,
were confronting Shamil in the
fortified
and fearing that the Murids might prove
strong for them, sent another battalion under Lieu-
tenant-Colonel
BoutchkeeyefF
by
forced
marches
from
Tsatanikh with orders to pick up a company at Khoun-
zakh on the way, take over Touleensky's command, and

blockade the aoul closely. The reinforcement came just
in time.
On
the night of the 7th, Shamil, Tashoff Hadji,
and Keebeet Mahomd, 2 made a
sortie
with the object of
breaking the blockade, and a desperate fight ensued, in

1
A battalion of infantry with some Cossacks and three mountain guns
under Captain Touleensky supporting the levies of the Khans of Kasi-Koumoukh and Mekhtoulee.
2
Keebeet Mahoma had made himself master of Tilitl in 1833 by the
treacherous assassination of the native beks and their families, thirty-three
persons in all. He remained to the end of the war (1859) one of Shamil's
chief supporters.

which
the Russians lost 2
and
officers
299
officers and 92 men killed,

and 183 men wounded, but succeeded in
driving the enemy back.
The Murid loss was apparently
about the same, as the Russian account gives

killed
"a
and
mass of wounded."
at
it
100
Considering the total
Russian forces in Daghestan the above figures were very
amply proved.
serious, as after events
On
the 9th Fese" brought his troops
on
tain
The Murid army had taken up

bank of the Betl, with its
on Ashilta.
a strong position on the

right flank protected
left
by a precipitous mountain
by the abyss already mentioned.
from this
the moun-
and led them
to the plateau above Ountsoukoul,
to the attack
left
down
wall, its
They were driven
line of defence at the point of the bayonet,
first
and retreated slowly towards the village, contesting every

inch of ground as they fell back from ledge to ledge
and terrace to
For
blood.
vineyards
terrace, sprinkling
three
hours the
the
contest
and orchards, and then,
at
vines
with their
went on
in
the
the Russians
last,
found themselves face to face with Ashilta, in which,

is
2000 Murids had taken
said,
ing on the Koran to die

lecting
for
his
divided into three
serve
their stand after swear-
need be in
its
defence.
Col-
men, Fese made the necessary preparations
storming the aoul,
battalion
if
it
the whole
of the
troops
being
columns, with the exception of one
and three companies retained to act as a
and cover the
owing to the
difficult
artillery,
which had
nature of the ground.
tain guns, however, were soon brought up,
fallen
re-
behind
Two mounand took part
The left column was the first to reach

the village, but was met by a withering fire, and for
some time had hard work to hold its own, with its back
but meantime the
to a wall of rock on the extreme left
in the attack.
302
by the enemy.
position, followed, however,
The
fighting
was so close that when the flintlocks became useless

owing to the heavy rain, both sides used stones. It was
only at midday on the 16th that this " strategic movement
to the rear "
was completed, and the army concentrated in

its new position after an uninterrupted fight of twenty-four
hours.
On the arrival of three fresh companies, which had
left for Ghimree but had been recalled in hot haste, the
enemy
had
and disappeared.
retired to Igalee
and 32 men
lost in this affair 1 officer
and 93 men wounded, and 3

within 10, that
officers
of the total on the
is,
The Russians
killed, 3 officers
and 35 men contused,

day.
first
Fese retired to Ountsoukoul, whence, after receiving

fresh
he
supplies,
reascended
the Betl
mountain, and
marching by way of Khounzakh and Golotl, reached Tilitl

on the 26th, and joined the forces still holding Shamil at
that
place.
600 houses
was a
Tilitl
and
backed on one side by a

only approach
is
yet larger aoul than AshiltA
far stronger.
up
cliff,
and
steep
Built on a stony platform,
while on the other three the

lofty rocks,
an uncommon degree the usual
facilities
it
possessed in
for defence of
a Daghestan aoul, including no less than nine
and was not altogether without
towers,
shape of light falconets.
many
of the houses were
artillery fire
fortified
artillery in
the
After a few days the towers and
knocked
to pieces
by the superior
of the Russians, and a storming party took
possession of the smoking ruins, with a loss of 1 officer
and 27 men
As
killed,
and
officer
and 49 men wounded.
fresh hordes were reported to be gathering for the relief
Imam, Fese ordered a general attack for the 5th

At daybreak the attack began, and when the troops
of their
July.
reached the village
all
the horrors of Ashilta were repeated.
The Russians had obtained possession of the upper
portion

of the aoul, while the Murids
would seem that
was
victory
303
held the lower part.
still
certain, but,
It
on Shamil send-
ing envoys to treat for peace, Fese withdrew his
men from
hard-won position and concentrated them on the
their
In the fighting from the 3rd to the 6th
heights above.
July he had lost 4
officers
men wounded,
203
and 60 men
and
killed, 3 officers
besides some contused.
Negotiations
continued during two days, and ended in Shamil, Tashoff
and Keebeet Mahoma, with
Hadji,
submission, and swearing to
named by
Fese, signing
up three hostages.
it
some
others, offering
their
in the presence of delegates
sort of
document and giving
Shamil also sent a
letter to Fese,
but
couched in such terms that the Russian commander, though

not until already on the retreat, sent a request that
be replaced by one more suitably worded.
might
it
Shamil complied
he was obviously
and the contents of the second
in so far as to write another letter, but
master of the situation,

missive differed
"The
tone.
little
from the
first
either in matter or
acceptance by General Fese of such
letters,
recording the conclusion of peace with Shamil, was a political
mistake
munities his
up
till
"
it
title
confirmed in the eyes of the hostile com-
it
chief,
whereas
1
then no one recognised his sovereignty but himself.
On
the 7th July, in consequence of an intimation that
make up
the Murids could not

as
and religious
as their civic
their
minds to leave
were, under the muzzles of our guns, the
Tilitl,
army returned
Kouada
Khounzakh by (the roundabout) way
defile and the Karadagh bridge, reaching the Avar capital
of the
to
on the 10th."
If the
reader has
taken
the
trouble
to follow with
any attention this brief summary of the campaign of

picture of
1837, he will hardly be unprepared for the
1
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
p. 71.
304
its
immediate
admission
the
in
following naive
"This,
however, was
General Fese
by the
retire
contained
results
merely the
seized by
he was compelled
as a matter of fact
pretext
to
total material disorganisation of the expedi-
tionary corps, the enormous loss in personnel, and the want
From
of ammunition. 1
had
the beginning of the campaign he
and wounded and in sick or dead of

and 26 other officers, including 14 company
commanders and about 1000 men. 2 The loss in horses had
lost in killed
disease 4 staff
been considerable, and half those remaining could
also
hardly drag one leg after another.

5
were rendered
Of 10 mountain
guns,
The wagons, and even the
useless.
two-
wheeled carts (arbas) obtained from the natives for use in

the mountains, had nearly
worn out
their clothes
General
Fe'se'
brief
disappeared.
The troops had
was a great master of the pen, and
report of the campaign
burg
all
and boots and went in rags."

was such as
to gain
his
him much
renown and lead the authorities in distant St. Petersto think him a heaven-born commander, and once
more to imagine that Muridism was scotched and Eussian

dominion in Daghestan firmly established. Klugenau must
have smiled grimly when he returned to Shoura and learnt
the truth, and
we can imagine
his feelings
sequence of Fuse's " victorious "
upon shortly
after to induce
and throw himself
Khounzakh,
it
at the
is
in con-
campaign he was
Shamil to proceed to
Emperor's
true,
when
called
Tiflis
feet.
remained in Eussian hands,
1
Kavkazsky Sbornik, p. 73. Fese himself wrote (to Rosen) that he had
agreed to an armistice with Shamil because it was necessary to improve the
road between Shoura and Khounzakh, and to provision that place of arms :
Akti, viii. p. 618 (30th August 1837).
2 The news of these losses reached the Emperor at first through private
channels, and Rosen was sternly ordered to report more promptly and fully in
future
Akti,
viii. p.
359.
305
but the glorious victory of Ashilta, calmly examined, looks

very like a defeat
Akhoulg6 had
to be
taken again at
cost just two years later; and the retreat from

was obviously effected but just in time to escape
terrible
Tilitl
complete
as
clearly
The
disaster.
result of the
vaunted campaign,
evidenced by subsequent events, was not to
destroy Shamil's influence, but to increase
the Russians
it
tenfold
for
behind them a legacy of hatred in the
left
ravaged gardens and smoking ruins of Ashilta, and a conviction in the native
mind
that,
however brave, they were
The one
not by any means invincible.
solid gain
the whole expedition was the improvement of

cations between Shoura
knowledge of the
from
communi-
and Khounzakh, and an increased
hostile country.
SHAMIL'S LETTERS TO FESE

I
From
Shamil, Tashoff
Abdouerahman
other honourable and learned
hostages to
Keebeet MahomA,
Mahomet-Omae-Ogli, and
Hadji,
of Karakhee,
men
Giving
of Daghestan.
Mahomet Mirza Khan, we concluded
a peace
with the Russian Emperor which none of us will break,
on condition, however, that neither side should do the

slightest wrong to the other.
If either side breaks its
promises it will be considered as treacherous, and traitors
are held accursed before
God and
the people.
This
letter
of ours will explain the complete exactitude and fairness
of our intentions.
II
This letter explains the conclusion of peace between

the Russian
Emperor and Shamil.
by the delivery
as
hostages to
This peace
marked
is
Mahomet Mirza Khan

u
306
on behalf of Shamil, of his cousin, pending the
arrival
on behalf of Keebeet Mahoma, of his

and on behalf of Abdourrahman of Karakhee,
of his nephew;
cousin;
of his son
tion
may be
so that this peace
that neither
on condi-
lasting,
any wrong or treachery to
side does
God and
the other; for traitors are held accursed before
the people. 1
That
Fese*
withdrew from
already in pos-
aoul on receipt of the
session of half the

letters,
when
Tilitl
first
of these
and by a route dictated by the enemy, speaks
eloquently of the straits to which he was reduced; for
whatever his faults as a general, his daring and energy
were such that his name

of which declares
Fese*
the
grave
lives in native
still
Shamil returned
to
AshiM, and
his feelings
imagined as he gazed on the desolate scene

flourishing aoul a
of the
five
mass of blackened ruins
hundred
left
"I
beheld, and
lo,
Imam
maize
the
What wonder
for
The vines
trampled
not a house
and the
mosque
and
all
the
fruitful place
torn up, the trees cut down,

foot,
the
conduits
broken!
the iron entered his soul and the thirst
if
vengeance
under
be
once
but three years
there was no man,
birds of the heavens were fled
was a wilderness."
may
the
standing, not even the
wherein he had been consecrated
ago
songs, one
was only one refuge from
that there
waxed
fierce
within
him?
For
all
this
horrible ravage was not for anything he had done against

the Russians, but lest he should attempt anything against
them
in future
vineyards
Ashilta with
had been
growing influence
1
laid
its
waste,
might cease.
beautiful orchards and

forsooth,
Well,
KavJeazslcy Sbornik, viii. p. 241.
that
Shamil's
they should see,

these
men
down
the house of God,
of blood,
who gave no quarter, who battered

who destroyed the growing crops,
whose fury was on the
And
not yet!
and,
profiting
fruit of the
the stern
Imam
by experience,
safety for his wives
whilst he
ground
the
end was
turned him to Akhoulg6

to
set
energy of his nature to make
silver,
307
it
work with
all
the
impregnable, a place of
and his children, his gold and his
harried
the Eussians far and wide; or
a refuge and a defence for himself as well
the storm
if
clouds gathered once more in the mountains.
The Emperor Nicholas was to visit the Caucasus in

autumn of this year, and so little did the Eussians
dream of what was before them that it was thought the
Emperor's coming might be made the occasion of celebrating the pacification of the Caucasus. To this end,
the
however,
and
it
was necessary to procure Shamil's submission

and most urgent instructions were sent
secret
commander-in-chief,
means
to
General
persuade the
Imam
F6s6,
to
point on the route, preferably

past offences
which
to
use
all
meet Nicholas
Tiflis,
of
the
in
possible
some
at
ask forgiveness for
would immediately be granted
offer guarantees for his future good' behaviour.
was now
to the
and
Fese\
who
southern Daghestan, entrusted the conduct
negotiations to Klugenau,
who was
not
more
distinguished for his personal bravery and military skill
than for his intimate knowledge of the natives.
Klugenau had no illusions as to

his chance of success in so delicate and difficult an enterHe
prise, but the Emperor's commands must be obeyed.
despatched, therefore, a letter by the Beks of Karanai
It is probable that
demanding
an
interview
with
Shamil,
and
the
latter
appointed a meeting next day but one at
the
On
accordingly,
the
morning
of
the
18th
September
spring.
308
Klugenau, accompanied only by Yevdokeemoff, an escort

of fifteen Cossacks of the
Don and
ten natives from the
friendly aoul of Karanai, rode
down to the spring, where

he found the Imam already awaiting him with over 200
horsemen fully armed.
The Russian leader, leaving his
escort behind,
took up his
accompanied only by an
station
interpreter,
on a
little
mound
and asked that Shamil
should advance to meet him.
The latter did so, surrounded

by a number of the Murids chanting to wild and dirgelike music verses from the Koran but on nearer approach
;
the latter halted, and Shamil advanced with three only
of his most devoted followers.
The scene
On
impressive.
their
native
command
at this
moment must have been
the one
allies
mere handful of men under the
wound
number of
fiercely
not far from this very spot
received
a few months previously
many
were the Russians, with
of the youthful adjutant, his cheeks scarred by
the bullet
of
side
singularly
on the
fanatical
ten times their
other,
horsemen, dressed in robes
colours, with tchalmas (turbans)
on their heads,
and here and there a pennon fluttering from a leader's

lance.
Between these hostile bands sat Klugenau, square
and erect on his charger, face to face with Shamil and
1
the three Murids.
The
was wild and savage
scenery, as befitted the occasion,
to a degree
the place of meeting,
a mere strip of broken ground with two or three thousand

feet of cliff
above and as many more below
the narrow valley, or rather
cleft,
while across
of the Soulak rose an
opposing wall of nearly equal height.
For a moment there was
murmur
of the water as
it
silence,
broken only by the
flowed over
its
bed of many-
General Ok61nitchi says that Klugenau was " very tall, stoutly built,
brusque in manner, and fiery-tempered to the verge of insanity, but goodnatured withal, honest and generous."
1
General Kluke von Kiatgenau

coloured stones, the debris from the
Christian
and
general
proud and equally
above, while
cliffs
Muhammadan
chieftain,
equally
eyed one another with
fearless,
309
the
knowledge that peace or war hung on the words they were

about to utter. Then they dismounted; a bourka was
spread on the ground
they took their seats upon
it,
and
the parley began.
Long and
earnestly the Russian emissary spoke, exerting
his powers of persuasion,
all
meeting
his adversary's
all
it
deemed more weighty

seemed that his eloquence was to have
effect;
but Shamil, while professing to be
weightiest arguments by others he

still,
the
until at last
desired
seriously moved, stated that
without
first
About
Klugenau
he could give no
consulting certain of his friends.
3 p.m., finding Shamil inflexible

rose to his feet;
the
Imam
Shamil could take
Sourkhai Khan, one of the
it,
fiercest
his
answer
on
this point,
did the same, and
the Eussian stretched out his hand to bid

but, before
final
him good-bye
arm was
and most
seized
by
fanatical of the
Murids, who, with flashing eye and knitted brow, exclaimed
was not
that
it
the
hand of a Giaour.
fitting for
the leader of the Faithful to touch
At
this insult
Klugenau, already
irritated at the non-success of his mission, lost self-control,
and, raising the crutch he used, 2 was about to strike off the
Murid's turbaned head-dress, the worst outrage that could

well be offered to a follower of the Prophet.
more and the blow would have
fallen,
A moment
and beyond the
shadow of a doubt the Russian general with all his men

would have been sacrificed to the fury of Sourkhai and his
friends.
It is idle, perhaps, to speculate on the conse1
Keebeet
Karakhee.
He
Mahomd
of Tilitl, Tashoff Hadji,
and Abdourrahman, Kadi
had been severely wounded in 1830 at the storming

him for life.
bullet smashing his right instep and laming
of
of Zakatali, a
310
quences
but Shamil too and the nearest of his followers
would possibly have been killed in the mele'e and, with

some of the principal actors removed, the great drama of
;
the ensuing war might have run a very different course.

Shamil, however, on this occasion showed that
him
it
was in
Seizing the crutch in one hand, and
to be chivalrous.
with the other holding back Sourkhai, whose kindjal was

already half out of
sheath, he called in
its
to the rest of his band,
menacing tones
who were
rapidly closing round, to

to retire without delay.
fall
back,
and begged Klugenau
The
latter,
beside himself with rage, heeded neither entreaty
nor persuasion, but, careless of danger, continued to shower
on
all
the mountaineers, without distinction, the choicest
epithets of abuse.
for his
At
commander's
skirt of his coat, and,
at last
this
life,
moment Yevdokeemoff,
exchanging a few words with Shamil,
persuaded Klugenau to
mounted
and rode
his horse
fearing
ran up, dragged him back by the
retire.
off at
The
latter
slowly
a foot's pace towards
Shoura, paying no more heed to the Murids, who, scowling
and muttering and with many a backward glance,
retired
with Shamil to Ghimree.
Whether Shamil
proposal or not,
we
ever thought seriously of the Russian
shall never
know.
It appears that
he
did send messengers to his chief supporters telling them
what had occurred and asking their opinion

from his conduct on other occasions, it is quite
;
this
was merely to
try them.
but, judging
possible that
Klugenau, desirous
to leave
no stone unturned, wrote Shamil a long letter urging compliance with the Emperor's wishes; but, this time, the
"
answer was brief and decisive.

this letter, Shamil,
who
the poor writer of
leaves all things in the
God 28th
September 1837.
have
decided not to go to
finally
From
hand of
This to inform you that I

Tiflis,
even though I were
311
cut in pieces for refusing, for I have ofttimes experienced
your treachery, and this
Many
Shamil,
thousands of
all
lives
twenty-two years
men know."
were
later,
on both sides before
lost
stood submissive at the
Russian sovereign, and then
feet of a
but his son and successor, Alexander

of the
historic event not the
capital
it
was not Nicholas
II.,
and the scene
of Georgia,
but a
Russian camp at the autumn manoeuvres 25 versts from

Kharkoff.
meantime had landed (21st September) at

Ghelendjik, and at Anapa (23rd September), whence he
Nicholas
I.
Setting out once more he reached
returned to the Crimea.
Redout Kale on the 27th, and thence made the round of

Koutaiis, Akhaltsikh, Akhalkalaki, Goumri, Serdar-Abad,
Etchmiadzin, Erivan, and
October he
road,
on the 12th
Vladikavkaz by way of the Georgian
for
left
(8th October)
Tiflis
and reached Moscow on the 26th November.
This
Baron
matters
visit
Rosen,
as to
had
in
failing
two respects very

to
explain
definite results.
satisfactorily
various
which the Emperor's discontent had been
until
was dismissed, but permitted to retain his command

the end of January 1838 1 and the Persian Govern-
ment
at last gave
roused,
way
in the matter of the Russian deserters.
This had long been a very sore point.
Yermoloff had used
very strong language to the Persian minister Bazurg about

it
in 1817, but without result.
In 1820 Mazar6vitch
ported " nos soldats d^sertent plus que jamais."
At the
close of the Persian
re-
war of 1826-27 Paskievitch
endeavoured to obtain the surrender of the so-called Russian

battalions, but the Persian negotiators obstinately withstood
him, and the matter dropped.

Berge states (Akti, viii., Introduction) that he was dismissed on the 30th
November, but he was still in command on the 25th January ibid., p. 390.
1
Akti,
vi.
ii.
p.
233
Mazarovitch to Yerm61off, 18th December.
312
Nicholas
now took
I.
occasion to interfere personally.
Can we call
Power friendly which welcomes Russian deserters and
organises them in bodies called Russian battalions ? I beg
you to transmit what I say to the Shah, adding that I ask
Meeting the Emir-i-Nizam, he asked him
"
that
the return of the two Russian battalions
months' time
is
and
if
within three
on your representations
my demand
not complied with, then without declaring war I will
recall
my
mission from Teheran and break
with you."
This ultimatum had the desired
effect.
to the surrender, provided that the
sented, but that

to Tabriz
off all relations
was
far
from
men
certain.
and to Teheran with
full
The Shah agreed

themselves con-
Albrandt was sent
powers to treat both
with the Persian authorities and with the deserters; and

after
months of
exertion,
marked by the
display of extra-
ordinary tact and courage, he succeeded in accomplishing

the difficult and dangerous task laid
upon him, and on the
11th February 1839 crossed the Russian frontier at the
head of
this
strange battalion
with band playing
and
colours flying. 3
1
It appeared subsequently that there was only one battalion of 450 men,
engaged at this time with the Persian army at the siege of Herat.
2
Rosen to Sim6nitch (Minister at the Court of the Shah), 15th October
1837 Akti, viii. p. 952 and Sim6nitch's reply, ibid., p. 957.
3
Albrandt left a narrative of his mission, which was printed in the Bousshi
Viestnik, 1867, No. 3.
The whole episode is full of interest, and brings into
high relief some of the most characteristic qualities, good and bad, of the
Russian people.
:
CHAPTER XX
1838-1839
Russia takes the alarm Russian plan of campaign Grabbe's

Siege and capture of Argoudni The Andee Koisou crossed
Shamil's success
expedition
Siege of Akhoulgo
It
is
claimed for
Fe'se'
that his expedition, if
it
did nothing
more, kept Shamil quiet during the whole of 1838, but

this result is surely not
much
indeed, deadly quiet, for he
to boast of.
was engaged
He
was quiet
in a double
work
of construction, moral and material, that absorbed every

faculty, engrossed all attention, claimed
each waking hour
the building up of his authority and power amongst the

tribes,
the building up of his fortresses on the
Akhoulgd
directions
came
and to such good purpose

that
early
in
cliffs
of
did he work in both
1839 the
to the conclusion that " it
Russian Government
was necessary at last to
take the most effectual measures against the growing might

of Shamil, and to that end ordered a decisive campaign in
northern Daghestan."
Shamil's authority was
now recognised by all the free com-
munities lying round Avaria, including
Andee and Goumbet,
with the exception of Andalial and the unruly people of

Ountsoukoul, whose policy seems to have been dictated
mainly by a hatred of their neighbours of Ghimree.

1
When
Milioutine, Opis&nie voyennilch dyMvii 1839 Ooda v Sidvernom Daghestanye,
an admirable little monograph on this 1839 expedition by Milioutine,

afterwards General Count Milioutine, War Minister at the close of the reign
of Alexander II., and still (1908) living in the enjoyment of all his faculties.
Golovine wrote to TchernishefF, 31st March, "Shamil's power in mountain
Daghestan augments notably" Akti, ix. p. 325.
p. 20,
313
314
the latter
became
aoul was
hostile
when Ghimree
hastened to submit.
Hadji,
submissive to Eussia,
had succeeded
rose in arms,
Ountsoukoul
Ountsoukoul
In Tchetchnia his lieutenant, Tashoff

in bringing over to his cause
whole
Salatau and Aoukh declared themselves openly

Imam, except such aouls as lay dangerously near
the Russian lines, Tchirkei, for instance, and these only
districts.
for the
moment to follow suit. In southern

Daghestan the communities on the Upper Samour were
waited the favourable
openly hostile to Russia.

ful tribes,
property,
On
the northern plain the peace-
such as the Koumuiks, trembled for their
and
the " submitted " aouls of
lives
Lower Tchetchnia
worse case, for they were between the
were in
still
and the
anvil, certain to
side or none.
It
and
hammer
be raided whether they took either
was time
for the Russians to be
up and
doing.
Baron Rosen had been succeeded (21st March 1838) as

commander-in-chief by General Golovine, whose plan of
action, as modified by the Emperor Nicholas, comprised
(2) the final subjuga(1) a descent on the Black Sea coast
;
Upper Samour communities; (3) the conquest of

Tchetchnia and northern Daghestan. 1 For each of these
three objects a separate campaign was planned and a
separate army organised. With the first of these campaigns
tion of the
the present
to do
work
has, for reasons already stated, nothing
the results of the second will be summarised in a
But the operations of the army led by General

Count Grabbed Veliameenoff's successor, and aiming directly
few words.
at the capture of Shamil's stronghold,
Akhoulgd, and the
The Emperor disapproved Gol6vine's proposals as to building of roads and

forts within the hostile territory, furnishing the latter with strong garrisons,
and making expeditions on a large scale every year an obvious mixture of
Paskidvitch's
and Veliameenoff's ideas Akti, ix., Introduction

January 1839, ibid., p. 236.
nisheff to Gol6vine, 15th
iv.
and Tcher-

final destruction of his
power must be dealt with
315
at greater
length.
At Count Grabbers
disposal were placed the whole of
the military forces of the eastern flank and of northern
Daghestan, the former to the number of 6000 concentrated
by the
1st of
May
at
Vnezapnaya, on the river Aktash, the
number of 3000 a fortnight later at TemirKhan-Shoura.

The intention had been to make first a
combined movement against Shamil in Daghestan, and
attack Tchetchnia in the autumn for campaigning in the
lofty and barren mountains was attended by far less difficulty in summer than at any other time of the year,
latter to the
whereas the contrary held good of Tchetchnia with its

densely-wooded hills and valleys.
But the skilful dispositions of the
enemy compelled the Russian commander
to alter his plans.
Tashoff Hadji,
reinforced
by a party of Daghestan
Murids under Sourkhai and Ali Bek, had built himself a

small but strong
wooden blockhouse
Akhmet-Kala
at
in
the depth of the forest near Miskeet, an aoul on the river
Aksai, and, gathering the Tchetchens from near and
he threatened the
Koumuik
far,
plain and the rear of any force
marching from Vnezapnaya towards Daghestan.
Shamil
himself fortified Argou&ni in Goumbet, and promised the

people of Bourtounai to advance and meet the Russians
in
their
district
of Salatau.
would have been madness

out
first
it
advance with-
securing the line of communication to the north
and ensuring the
Koumuik
the
for the latter to
plain,
first place,
and disperse
safety of the loyal inhabitants

for
which purpose
it
was
to destroy Tashoff Hadji's
of the
essential,
new
in
stronghold
his large, if undisciplined, force.
The preliminary campaign undertaken
for the purpose
316
was very brief and
The
successful.
entirely
troops left
Vnezapnaya on the 9th May, and by the 15th were back

again, having destroyed Akhmet-Kala and also a similar
structure, together with the aoul of Sayasani higher up
the Aksai, defeating on each occasion considerable bodies
The Russian losses were not serious, and,
of the enemy.
as usual in forest fighting, caused chiefly
retirement.
on the line of
The Tchetchens do not appear
fered severely either, thanks
to have suf-
to the density of the woods,
but Tashoff Hadji's prestige was gone, and Grabbe" could
now march forward without anxiety for his

men who had been caught firing, and proved
rear.
Six
to belong
to " submitted " villages of the territory of
Aoukh, were
" passed through the ranks "
others.
as a
warning to
Akhoulg6 had been the only objective Grabbe" would

now have crossed the Soulak and followed the longer
but more convenient route through Shoura, Ziriani, and
Khounzakh, but that would have left untouched Goumbet
If
and Salatau, whose inhabitants were amongst Shamil's chief

supporters, and would have ensured the latter a safe refuge
even in the event of Akhoulg6 being successfully assaulted.
Moreover the danger to the Koumuiks would have been

For these reasons he decided to advance
as great as ever.
directly
through Salatau and Goumbet, subdue these
dis-
on the way, and reach Ashilta through Tchinkat.

Once there, his base would be transferred to Khounzakh,
whence to Shourd, the communications were now compara-
tricts
and
tively safe
easy.
Of the Daghestan
troops,
commanded
in Klugenau's absence by Pankratieff, three battalions were

to join Grabbe"
by the Miatli ford over the Soul&k and
one was to protect the Khounzakh route, along which

1
Count Milioutine was severely wounded
retire
2
i.e.
Akti,
made
in this affair, but refused to
241 (Grabbers order of the day, 16th May).

to " run the gauntlet."
ix. p.
317
and provisions had to be carried in large quantities

to supply the army on its arrival before Akhoulgo.
A start was made from Vnezapnaya on the 21st May,
and the following day two of the three battalions from
stores
Shour& joined the main

battalion
On
force.
came up during a
the 24th the remaining
fight with a large
number of the
enemy under Shamil himself at Bourtounai, and the expeditionary corps now amounted in round numbers to 8500
men. The resistance so far was feeble in the extreme
nor did
become
it
serious
Eussians reached
the
until
the fortified aoul of Argouani, though they had to cross

the
ridge
lofty
between
their descent into the latter district
in
which a zigzag road had
Goumbet,
make
by precipitous
slopes,
and
Salatau
to be cut or blasted out of
the solid rock, and afterwards thread a narrow and
difficult
defile.
Tilitl and so many of the Daghestan

was a formidable place to take by storm, yet for
an army provisioned and equipped for a few days' march
Argouani, like
aouls,
only a formal siege was out of the question

sible,
however, to leave such
it
was impos-
stronghold behind un-
touched, and Grabbe, who, though no general, was a
man
of great courage and determination, after a reconnaissance

in force
gave orders for the assault.
The aoul occupied
a lofty ridge in the fork of a small river, the lowest line of

houses, built on the very edge of an almost perpendicular
presenting an unbroken wall of stone, pierced by a
cliff,
triple
tier
row of
usual
loopholes.
Behind these
rose other houses,
tier,
in the form of an amphitheatre, with the
flat roofs,
square towers, and narrow, tortuous streets.
above
Shamil had collected some 16,000
men to confront the

much less numerous,
Russians, but the actual garrison was

as large numbers, notably the
men
of Andee, preferred to
318
play a watching
took
little
At
game on the neighbouring
heights,
and
May
the
part in the fighting.
five o'clock in
the afternoon of the 30th
Russian batteries opened

Milioutine, without
much
fire
on the
aoul, but, according to
Meantime a column under
effect.
Colonel Labeentseff was approaching the enemy's position
by a long detour on the

Pullo was feeling
road
leading
its
right,
and another under Colonel
way over the rocks on the
from Tchinkat (Tchirkat)
the
left to
each of these
columns consisted of two battalions (of about 750
men
each) and a couple of mountain guns, besides native militia.
battalion of the
to
keep up communication with Labeentseff's column, and
Apsheron regiment moved
speedily reaching the
summit of the
to the right
ridge, carried, at the
point of the bayonet, a detached fort between which and
the aoul was a deep fosse.

rifle fire
The
was
left
out of
under protection of one battalion of infantry and
a couple of guns;
another battalion and the dismounted
Cossacks guarded the batteries;

feint to
transport
and yet a third made a
draw the enemy's attention and
fire
in the centre.
It was now dark, and the flanking columns were still

drawn out in long lines on the steep mountain sides, along
which they had great difficulty in dragging the guns.
Colonel Pullo on reaching the Tchinkat road followed
it
up a desperately steep incline almost to the houses, but

found the aoul on
this
side absolutely impregnable, for
the only approach was under the cross
between which a concave

curtain, above
the village.
fire
of two bastions,
line of stone saklias served as a
and behind which rose the
loftiest part of
Colonel Labeentseff on completing his turning
movement was
able to convince himself that on that side
the western corner of the aoul alone
could be
with any chance of success, and as
was impossible
it
assailed
to

storm Argouani at night with one battalion
been
columns of companies
left in
he
the enemy on the heights

the
to
keep watch against
made
Grabbe"
arrangements for the assault next morning.
column was strengthened by two
had
his other
With
retired out of range.
information thus obtained,
319
his
final
Labeentseff's
battalions, so that,
still
leaving one to protect his rear, he had three battalions to
hurl at the western corner of the aoul.
Colonel Pullo, with
two battalions and two mountain guns, was brought

round to the right and ordered to move along the ridge
where the outlying fort had been captured, and take over
his
the
command
Here
of the troops on that spot.
there would be three storming battalions.

disposition, a battalion
then,
To complete
the
was placed on the Left Flank with
orders to
draw the enemy's attention
case the
main attack succeeded,
road and cut
also,
off retreat
to that side,
and
in
to occupy the Tchinkat
in that direction, while the only
other exit from the aoul, on Labeentseff's right, was guarded
by the mounted Cossacks and native
The
troops were on the
move
militia.
before daybreak, and as
soon as they were in position the aoul was heavily bom-
barded on
all sides, after
which
at a given signal the storm-
ing parties dashed forward with a courage and determination

that carried
them quickly over the outer
line of defences.
Then began the usual hand-to-hand fighting and butchers'

work in the houses and streets, but Milioutine, who led one
of the columns, shall tell the story himself: " At 9 a.m. our
troops were already in occupation of the greater part of the
village,
Murids
and even of the

still
flat
roofs of those houses
defended themselves; but the bloodshed con-
tinued the whole day through until dark.

to drive the
where the
Murids out of the sahlias
through the roofs and throw
was
down burning
The only way

to break holes
substances, and
320
Even then they remained many

the houses, though sometimes they found means
so set fire to the beams.
hours in
to break through
another, but
and
many
secretly pass
from one dwelling to
bodies were found completely charred.
In spite of their disadvantageous position they continued

the most fanatic
to do our men a great deal of harm
;
amongst them were

of the
'
infidels
'
satisfied if
they could destroy even some
man by man
they defended themselves
with their swords and Mndjals until they died on our
some even threw themselves against a dozen

Only
soldiers at a time without any weapon whatever.
fifteen men, who were being suffocated by smoke in one
bayonets
of the saklias into which
consented to surrender.
their
own
we had thrown hand
Many
carelessness in
entering the houses
enemy's loss was far heavier
grenades,
soldiers perished
the
owing
to
but the
were blocked
streets
with corpses.
"
was
When
still
the day ended a considerable part of the village
in the hands of the enemy.
One tower in particular,
which rose
to the height of several storeys at the eastern
end of the
aoul, gave a great deal of trouble
efforts of
our infantry were in vain, and
there all the
when evening
fell
we had
to drag up with enormous difficulty two mountain

and two Cossack guns, and place them on the flat roofs of the
nearest houses in order to batter a breach.
mountaineers did not surrender
and at
Even then
nightfall
it
the
became
necessary to take the most strenuous measures to prevent

all
egress from the aoul, especially from those houses
occupied by the enemy.
still
was night, indeed, that they

was dark and all quiet in the
It
for.
As soon as it
camp they came out by secret passages and fled in various
directions.
Some were met by the fire of our men and
waited
fell;
others engaged in hand-to-hand fighting, and were

bayoneted;
others
again
darkness and were killed
tumbled over the
321
in the
cliffs
few indeed succeeded in crossing
our lines unharmed, and these owed their almost miraculous

salvation partly to the nature of the ground,
alone
"
knew
well, partly to the darkness
and the
which they
rain.
Thus the fighting at Argouani lasted almost uninter-
ruptedly from 4 p.m. on the 30th
May to
June, and, taking into consideration
all
daybreak on the
1st
the difficulties our
troops had to overcome during a day and a half, one can
only be surprised that our losses did not exceed 146 killed
(including 6 officers) and 500
The enemy, on the
wounded
(including 30
officers).
other hand, suffered a great defeat
500
bodies remained in our hands, of which 300 in a single

gully where the fugitive mountaineers were attacked by our
cavalry.
According to information subsequently gathered
they lost altogether in killed and wounded some 2000 men,

1
and of certain villages not a single man returned."
The wounded were
sent
back
to
fort called
little
Oudatchnaya, which had been hastily constructed on the
march a few miles north of Argouani, and

Tarasevitch.
The
left in
charge of
rest of the army, while waiting for the
return of the conveying battalions, occupied itself in the
endeavour to complete the destruction of the aoul.
This
was no easy matter, and when, four days later, Grabb6 set
forward once more, by no means all of the 500 houses of
which Argouani had consisted were demolished, though the
had been burnt. 2
On the 5th June a flying column under
wooden beams
of most
Labeentseff,
promoted with Pullo to the rank of major-general, entered

1
2
and
and
Milioutine, pp. 62-65. See also Grabbe's report, Akti, ix. pp. 328-31.
The burning of native dwellings, like the destruction of orchards, fields,
vineyards, was systematically practised by the Russians in Daghestan,
owing to the great scarcity of timber few measures more disastrously
affected the inhabitants.
- 322
Tchinkat opposite Ashilta, and found
it
deserted
but the
bridge over the Andee Koisou had been burnt by the in-
army threatened to
was now cut off from
habitants, and the position of Grabbe's
become grave
not desperate, for
if
it
original base at Vnezapnaya, yet unable to effect communication with the new one at Shoura, and meantime the
its
provisions were nearly at an end, the country all round

absolutely hostile.
can hardly be doubted that the
It
Russians on this occasion were within measurable distance

of a great disaster, but courage and determination, added
to the blunders or laches of the
must
enemy, saved them.
Nor
be forgotten that the barren mountains of Daghestan,
it
formidable as they appeared, were less dangerous to regular

troops than the fatal forests of Tchetchnia.
was not
It
until the 7th that the
Tchinkat, for the road,
had
as usual,
transport from Shoura with
full
main
to be
supplies
force entered
made.
The
was waiting on
the Betl mountain across the river under convoy of one
Russian battalion and the native militia of Tarkou, Mekhtoulee,
and Avaria, but neither the Shamkhal nor Akhmet
Khan
dared descend in such close proximity to Shamil's
army
at
Grabbe
Akhoulgo, and the various missives despatched by

to the officer in
command
of the battalion seem not
The Shamkhal was ordered to come

down and take possession of the right bank of the river
to have reached him.
opposite Tchinkat to facilitate the rebuilding of the bridge
Akhmet Khan was urged

versts higher
made
to
up
to seize the bridge at Igalee, 10
but neither moved.
Attempts were also
open up communication with Shoura through
Tchirkî on the north, but the people of that aoul, professedly friendly, were really hostile,
In
and managed
to render
emergency Colonel Katenine with two battalions, two mountain guns, and the whole
these attempts abortive.
this

of the cavalry
was sent on the morning of the 8th
the bridge at Sagritl,
extremely
it
difficult of
versts
He
approach.
at 3 p.m., only to find
it
nearer than
323
to seize
Igalee,
but
succeeded in reaching
broken down by the natives.
Luckily there were houses near, and with beams torn from
them the bridge was soon made passable again. It

characteristic of the Murids that they made no attempt
hinder this proceeding, though the whole issue
campaign may have depended on
By
it.
is
to
of the
night both banks
were in possession of the Russians, and next day Katenine
marched boldly on
which Akhmet Khan
to Ashilta, seeing
took heart and joined him.
On
the 10th some dozens of
sacks of biscuits were slung across the river on ropes to the
hungry
soldiers
on the
left
bank, and by the evening of the
11th the bridge of Tchinkat was rebuilt in native fashion,

the beams being taken from the houses, and, for want of
bound together with vines. Grabbe, with

part of his command, now crossed the river
ropes and nails,
the greatest
and occupied the terraces of Ashilta

positions on the left
who were
the remainder took up
bank opposite Akhoulgo, except those
told off to guard the bridge,
and thus on the 12th
of June began the most famous siege of the war.
Shamil was now shut up in Akhoulgd with a population

of about 4000 men, women, and children, including many
hostages from various tribes, communities, and villages.
Of
this large total,
housed mostly in saklias built wholly
or partly underground,
and even in caves, not more than
one-fourth were fighting men, and herein lay the
weakness of his
position.
For
all
must be
fed,
chief
and as the
went on provisions grew scarce, while from the beginning water had to be obtained from the rivers at the base of
the rocks, which could only be reached by breakneck paths
siege
down
cliffs
many hundreds
of feet deep.
The
position will
324
from the accompanying plan and

It will be seen that the
sections taken from Milioutine.
be
best
understood
Andee Koisou here makes a bend

sides of a square.
This square
is
enclosing, roughly, three
by the
irregularly bisected
The
river Ashilta after its junction with the Betl.
right
squareNew Akhoulg6 is considerably higher

than the left Old Akhoulg6 but both are several hundred
feet above the Andee Koisou, which washes them on three
half of the
sides at the base of steep, in places perpendicular or even
overhanging,
Access to
cliffs.
New Akhoulgo
is
barred,
and the whole promontory completely dominated by SourkOld Akhoulg6 could only be reached from
hai's tower.
Ashilta by a razor-edged path, or from
across
the
New Akhoulgd
narrow chasm bridged by planks
at
a great
Sourkhai's tower, or
distance below the double plateau.
rather collection of strong buildings on the
summit
over-
looking the rock, was in charge of Ali Bek, one of Shamil's

bravest and most skilful lieutenants, with a garrison of
about one hundred men, chosen for their desperate courage
and fanatical devotion
to the cause of
Muridism from a host
of others certainly not lacking in either respect.
these brave
men had
Some
of
to descend each night to the brink of
the Ashiltd and bring back water for their comrades under
of the Russian sharpshooters.
Sourkhai himself
the
fire
was
at Igalee, endeavouring to maintain the people of that
important
aoul in their allegiance to Shamil;
Mahoma was
Akhverdi
in the Bogoulial district, Galbats in Andee,
on similar missions,
for
many
of these people, alarmed at
the successes of the Russians, were already wavering, and

left to
themselves would doubtless submit.
With the battalion sent from Shoura to guard the convoy of provisions, guns, and stores, Grabbe now had nine
battalions under his
command, but
so great
had been the
AKHOULGO
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Prince PaskhUvitch's Regiment.
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Descent by ropes and blocks.
ladders.
,,
,,
Aquertiwts, totake away water from
A khoulgo.
to taking of Sourkhai's Tower.

( oeeupiton o/I$// hank o/ Aiufce
i.e. to capture vf Aklwulgd.
August,
^V
August 22nd. August,
4tfi
i .
Koison.
Profile online AB.

on the same Huxriatontal Scale
of maj
Sourkhaf's
Tower
Profile online CD.

txn.
(loTible
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Lorizontal Scale
of -map
:_
_ll:
__
(^
GEORGt PHIUPiSON L"

tmffrruma. Green.
Co..
Z<mJ*>n. Bawlork., BombayHCalaitta.
325
drain from battle and sickness, that the total in the fighting
line,
including a company of sappers, amounted to no more
than 6000 men, without counting the undisciplined militia

of the
khanates, whose numbers varied
averaged about 3600.
With
continually, but
Russian com-
this force the
mander soon saw that he could not hope

the blockade on
all sides.
three battalions on the left
maintain
to
Moreover, the position of the
bank of
the
Andee Koisou was
one of considerable danger, one being practically isolated at

the bridge of Tchinkat, while the other two were
Akhoulgo.
river opposite
drew them
all to
On
down
the
the 14th, therefore, he with-
the right bank, and for a time carried on
the siege operations from that side only. 1
Shamil's position
was thereby much improved, for the Koisou at one spot

was so narrow that he was able to bridge it roughly with
a few planks, and, during the first and second periods of
the
siege,
renew his provisions, replace his
losses in
men
and materials, and keep open his communications with

Akhverdi Mahoma, Sourkhai, and others of his adherents
outside.
In these conditions speedy success could hardly be

hoped for, and Grabbe appealed to Goldvine for reinforcements.
Luckily the Samour expedition was already at an
end, so that the commander-in-chief was in a position to

comply with the request of his subordinate by despatching
to Akhoulgo three fresh battalions with four guns and a
quantity of stores.
When
these joined the blockading force,
which was not until the 12th of July, the

8500 fighting men, without counting natives.
total
Meantime Akhverdi .Mahoma, Sourkhai, and

had
1
reached
Galbats
succeeded in collecting large forces for the relief of

Golovine
calls
reprinted in Akti,
attention to this " very grave mistake."
ix.
p. 287, note.
See his memoir
326
Imam hoping
the
Grabbe
that their mere appearance
had entrusted the

the native militia, and had ordered
The
to raise the siege.
protection of his rear to
Akhmet Khan
would compel
latter
to take possession of the bridge at Sagritl,
but the cautious Akhmet, as before, kept to the safety of

the heights, and so
it
happened that on the night between
the 18 th and 19 th of June Akhverdi
Mahoma
quietly took
possession
and
to
of the ridge of Ashilta
set
work
to
while the unconscious Russians
entrench himself there,
were occupied in making a reconnaissance in force of

Shamil's stronghold, and the headquarters staff remained
for the
moment
great.
Had Akhverdi Mahoma
possible that he
almost unprotected.
might have
reverse on the Russians,

in
seized his opportunity,
first
destroying the
it
is
and then,
deep ravines and separated
by intervening ridges of
into comparatively small bodies
But the
great height and steepness.
staff,
overwhelming the Russian
conjunction with Shamil,
skilful in defence,
very
inflicted a serious if not fatal
soldiers while entangled in the
were and
The danger was
natives, brave as they
were nearly always weak in the
had little idea of combined moveAkhverdi Mahomd, let the favourable moment slip
attack, and, as a rule,
ments.
his fault counteracted that of

side,
and the danger was
Akhmet Khan on
past.
morning of the 20th prepared
When
the Russian
the Murids on the
was with
loud chanting of verses from the Koran, and they began
moment
firing the
for the attack, it
they moved, thus giving the Russians the
alarm and enabling them to concentrate in time.

as Grabbe*
offensive
fled to
had collected a portion of
his forces
As soon
he took the
the ridge was stormed, the natives gave way, and
Sagritl
and
Igalee.
Not
satisfied
with
this,
the
Russian commander, having spent the 21st in preparation,

left
General Galafeyeff to contain
Shamil, and himself
327
marched with four battalions, the Cossack and native

cavalry, and four guns, towards Sagritl. There he surprised
and routed the enemy, driving some as far as the bridge
near that place, and pursuing the remainder to Igalee.
At these two
points the Murids kept some forces in obser-
vation throughout the siege, but they did not again attempt
any actual
Shamil
interference.
profited,
as expected,
the absence of part of the blockading army to
but
it
By
the evening of the 23rd
by
a sortie,
was not pressed home, and was repulsed with
to the latter.
loss
make
little
all
the
The same day

purpose, was evacuated
troops were back in their old positions.
Oudatchnaya, which had served
its
by Captain Tarasevitch, who retired to Shourd, by Miatli
and eventually rejoined his commander.

The siege was progressing slowly, but useful work was
being done. Six batteries were erected, and saps advanced
along the rivers Betl and Ashilta\ Moreover, a new and
was opened up with Shoura through Ountsoukoul and Ghimree. A path had existed between these
mutually hostile aouls, but had recently been destroyed
where it passed under some cliffs overhanging the Avar
Koisou. Grabbe sent a company of infantry to repair and
shorter route
enlarge
them
it,
difficulties that it
did
The people
little
to help
of Ghimree at this crisis in Shamil's
him.
were open by way of the
As long
left
as
communications
bank of the Andee Koisou
they encouraged him, and some even joined his

the greater number refrained from actual
towards the end, when Grabbe

preestaff over
his
took
from the 27th June to the 21st August to complete
the work.
life
but so great were the
them with
authority and
with Shoura.
full
forces,
hostilities,
appointed
but
and
Oullou Bek
powers, they submitted to
allowed uninterrupted communication
CHAPTER XXI
1839
escapes Golovine's Samour expedition Its results
Siege of Akhoulg6 continued Sourkhai's castle taken Failure of general

assault Siege operations resumed Progress of the Russians Shamil
surrenders his son
Final assault and capture of Akhoulg6 Shamil
New
as
Akhoulgo" was connected with Sourkhai's rock, just
Old Akhoulg6 with the Ashilta
wide enough
works on
for
this
one
side
man
terraces,
by a ridge only
to pass at a time.
The
siege
were gradually advanced, until one
night a company under cover of darkness succeeded in
occupying a sheltered position at the near end of this

ridge,
and the rock was then surrounded on
all
sides.
But the brave defenders continued each night to descend

to the Betl for water, and as nothing decisive could be
hoped for while this key to the whole position held out,
Grabbe* determined to storm
At dawn on
it.
the 29th June three batteries opened
on Sourkhai's tower, but with
little effect, for
fire
the buildings
were masked by masses of rock from the chief battery on

the south; the western battery, from
its
ridge opposite Old Akhoulgd, could only

tion too great for any serious effect;
position on the
fire at
an eleva-
while on the east
there were only a couple of very light mountain guns, of

little
"
avail against the strong walls of the castle.
At
o'clock
a.m.
two battalions
of the Koureen
regiment marched to the foot of the rock

gallantly dashed forward
up the
of 45), and rapidly climbed
it
steep hillside (at
volunteers
an angle
in spite of a hail of stones
329
and wooden beams hurled down upon them by the mountaineers.
But the top of the rock
consisted of a huge
overhanging mass several fathoms high.
The undaunted
sharpshooters, however, did not stop even there; climbing
on each other's shoulders, one by one they endeavoured to

reach the summit
sight
of the
walls
of the
who came
but every brave fellow
defenders
over
the
edge,
under the very
paid for his temerity with his
castle,
into
life.
Meantime the storming party was exposed to a flanking fire from a breastwork constructed on the left-hand
a part of the defences our artillery entirely failed to
side,
destroy.
" In the hopes of lightening the task of the storm ers
the
batteries
volleys;
stones
time to time renewed their
from
every discharge
and beams
fell
brought down
fire
in
vast fragments,
on the attacking party; but the
thick columns of dust rising over the castle hid for a

short time only the heroic figures of the desperate Murids.
The
moment
more
our volunteers rushed once
steep ascent the mountaineers
and with the same energy and the same wild
down
their stones
and beams.
already lasted several hours

another,
and at 4
p.m.
were insuperable, and
retire
and
one company had succeeded
efforts
of
had
2
including
theless one
but the
and 34
full justice to
The
men
Only at
did
our troops
fight,
which had
us a loss of over
killed.
Never-
the truly heroic valour
difficulties
were in vain.
failed, after costing

officers
must do
of the troops."
command
from the blood-stained rock.
lasted all day,
300,
all
castle,
showered
two battalions of the Kabarda
the word
at
yells
the
This desperate fighting had
regiment were sent to the attack
nightfall
at
sprang out of the
Milioutine, pp. 92, 93.
330
officers and 165 men actually wounded,

and 96 men contused, many of them by stones
these latter were soon able to resume their
There were 3
15
officers
lightly;
service.
The
attack had failed, but at heavy cost to Shamil,
the heroic Ali
for
Bek was
killed
together with
of his gallant hundred, and the Russians had

lesson by
many
learnt a
which they afterwards profited.

now a major, was on the way from Shoura
Tarasevitch,
with his battalion convoying a transport with fresh supplies including
ammunition
new
his arrival, a
On
for the field guns, and, pending

was constructed on the eastern
armed with four of these more powerful
side of the rock,
weapons.
battery
the
4th July the castle was again bom-
barded, and, with the guns better placed
and of
larger
was soon reduced to a mass of ruins, in which

the heroic defenders seemed literally buried.
But whenever the stormers attempted to reach the summit the
dauntless Murids leapt once more on to the broken fragments of the wall and again hurled stones and beams
upon them. To avoid a useless sacrifice of valuable lives
the volunteers, who to the number of 200 had been gathered
calibre, it
from the whole army, were brought back under cover and
ordered to wait for night.
Meantime the
struction
until the
killed or buried
alive realised
batteries continued their
greater
part
of
work of de-
the defenders were
under the ruins; the few who remained
that further efforts were useless, and under
cover of darkness tried to reach
New Akhoulg6
through
They were seen by the pickets and

we are not told.
But the
stormers at last penetrated the ruins of the castle, and
found there only a few wounded men. The Russian loss
the
fired
Russian
at,
lines.
with what result

time was only 12
this
95 contused.
The
including
killed,
331
and
officer,
was now much
besiegers' task
longer harassed by the
fire
from the
no
lightened, for,
castle,
they were able
advance their works in various directions, especially
to
New
towards
New
Akhoulg<5, and draw their lines
batteries
were
constructed,
mountain guns could be brought

fortifications.
The upper
much
from which
closer.
even
the
on the enemy's
to bear
part of the ridge in front of
Sourkhai's rock was occupied by a whole battalion with
two guns; another battalion with two fresh batteries was

advanced nearer to the Koisou on the east, and on the
promontory between the Betl and the Ashilta two battawere placed with a new four-gun battery.
The
lions
moment
position of the troops at this
shown on the
is
plan under the letter B.
The
greatest difficulty
the roads or paths to the

ridge
had
in
to
front of the
be used, and
was experienced
new
At two
rock.
in continuing
positions, especially to the
at another
points (b) ladders
where there
(a),
is
sheer drop of 140 feet, tackles were rigged by which the
guns were lowered and
enemy under
the
to
check which
night.
On
men
in baskets.
cover of darkness
artillery fire
made
was kept up
All this time
continual sorties,
all
through the
the 12th the reinforcements had arrived from
southern Daghestan, and allowing them three days' rest after
had now
when Akhoulgo* might with advantage
their long march, Grabbe, judging that the siege
reached a stage
be stormed, gave orders to that
He was
of spies,
1
effect for the
16th July.
strengthened in this determination by the reports
who
pictured the state of the
garrison in
the
Amongst those who distinguished themselves at the taking of Sourkhai's

were Yevdokeemoff and Major Marteenoff, who two years later (15th July
castle
1841) had the misfortune to kill the poet Lermontoff in a duel at Piatigorsk.
332
most
lurid colours.
Reduced
midsummer sun on
there
in numbers, exposed to the
this barren rock,
was no forage
unable
without cattle
for
cook their food for want
to
of fuel, driven by the storm of shot
and
take
shell to
worn by fatigue and privation,

exposed to continual danger, and breathing an atmosphere
contaminated by decaying corpses, it might well be that,
as stated, the dwellers on Akkoulg6 were no longer able
to offer any serious resistance, and that Shamil himself
had thoughts of flight. But the event proved that both
the native spies and the Russian commander had underestimated the courage and determination of their foe.
The attack was made in three columns, of which the
strongest, three battalions, under Baron Wrangel, was
directed against New Akhoulg6 the second, one battalion,
under Colonel Popoff, against Old Akhoulgd while the
third, a battalion and a half, under TaraseVitch, was to
descend the gorge of the AshilU, enter the chasm between
the two halves of the promontory, and thence endeavour
refuge in caves and holes,
to prevent
any junction of the enemy's
forces,
and in the
event of success on the part of the other columns, to scale

if
possible the
cliffs,
and help
to get possession of the
main
position.
From dawn
tion
till
2 p.m. was devoted to an artillery prepara-
the troops were then
5 p.m. before the signal
column
at
once made
moved
was given
its
under a deadly
into position, but
for the assault.
it
was
Wrangel's
way down the narrow
ridge in
and with scaling ladders

stormed the platform occupied by the first of the enemy's
outworks, but here an unexpected obstacle confronted
single
file
fire,
them
in the shape of a second deep cutting across the
ridge,
swept by a cross
or kaponiers.
fire
from two concealed blockhouses
In a moment the position of the column

became
333
Exposed to a galling fire, crowded to

the number of 600 on a very small space of level ground,
desperate.
with an impassable cutting in
front, a precipice
on either
behind them a passage so narrow that only one could
side,
wounded
It was im-
pass at a time, and this already crowded with
men, they could neither advance nor
retreat.
possible for the sappers to bring even one fascine to protect
them with, and they were soon without a single officer;

every one had been killed or wounded, or had fallen down
the rocks. Thus they remained, perforce, until merciful
darkness covered them, and lucky it was that the attack
had taken place so late in the day, for otherwise not a man
could have escaped.
The remaining columns, which were intended rather to

draw the enemy's attention than press home an attack,
did
little
trating
or nothing.
That under Tarasdvitch,
some way down the gorge, was met by a withering
from Old Akhoulgd on the
fire
after pene-
left,
while showers of rocks
and stones came toppling down from the cliffs on the

in these circumstances, and seeing that the main
right
;
column had
to
failed, it retreated.
The
third
column seems
have made no serious attempt on Old Akhoulgd.
dark
all
three returned to the starting-point.
The
At
attack
and the Eussians had lost heavily

156 killed (including 7 officers), and 719 wounded and
had
totally failed,
contused * (including 45
was comparatively small

of their bravest men.
officers),
150
It is
while the defenders' loss
all told,
but
stated that
it
included some
when Wrangel's
column entered the outwork the Murids lost their heads

and were about to run, but the women and children threw
"Many of
themselves forward and arrested their flight.
In this mountain warfare rocks and stones were often used with great
hence, in part, the frequent entries under this heading, which included
as a matter of fact some very serious wounds.
1
effect,
334
these heroines, dressed as men, fought obstinately in the
advanced posts."
The
siege divides itself naturally into three periods, of
which the
first
ends with the storming of Sourkhai's
castle,
the second with the failure of the general assault on the
16th July.
We
now
enter on the third and final period,
during which the dramatic interest grows more and more

intense, until the final catastrophe.
The Russian commander had

enterprise.
moment
Wounded pride,
like
suffered a grievous rebuff,
did he think of abandoning his
but not for a
defeated ambition, and such
may have helped
personal considerations
some
in
degree to strengthen his determination to carry on the
even through the winter
siege,
if
need be
more weighty were the military and

the question. To retire now would be
whole expedition a
money
a mere waste.
failure,
its
What was
but
political aspects
to
would reign triumphant
of
acknowledge the
heavy cost in blood and

far worse, Shamil's
and influence would be enormously increased

in all
infinitely
power
Muridism
Daghestan and Tchetchnia
the efforts of past years would have been in vain
and the
struggle for supremacy would have to be renewed, almost
from the beginning.

Meditating the causes of his defeat, Grabbe" saw that
success was hopeless so long as the garrison could keep
communications with the outside world.
open
its
spies
brought him information that the
assault 100 fresh
men from
day after
His
the
Tchirkei and other bands
from various aouls had joined Shamil; he could see
for
powder and provisions were

himself that new
being brought in daily, and that, what was almost equally
important for the garrison, the sick and wounded were
supplies of
being got rid of across the Koisou.
On
the other hand,

in spite of recent losses, the
reinforcements,
the
Eussian army, thanks to
was considerably more numerous than at

the siege, the works stronger and
commencement of
more advanced, and Soufkhai's
He
335
no longer
castle
existed.
decided to recross the river and complete the invest-
ment
but to do so was no easy matter, for the bridge at
Tchinkat was destroyed, that at Sagritl in the hands of

the enemy, even if near enough to be of use.
Some days were spent in reconnoitring, a pretence was

made of building a new bridge just above Old Akhoulgd,
and the enemy's attention having thus been drawn away
from the real objective, three companies were thrown across
at Tchinkat on the evening of the 3rd August.
The piers
was soon spanned
by a rough-and-ready structure strong enough for the
immediate purpose. On the 4th, two battalions, together
of the old bridge remained, and the river
with the Avar and Mekhtoulee militia, crossed to the

bank, drove
off
the Murids, and took up a position opposite
Akhoulgd, which was now

rounded.
of
At dark a few
mountain
announcing
to
left
guns
shells
were
fired
from a couple
stronghold by
Shamil's
at
friend
for the first time completely sur-
and foe that the
feat
way
of
had been
successfully accomplished.
The end was now
On
in sight,
though
the lower ridge in front of
still
a long
New Akhoulgd
way
off.
(No. 11)
two mountain guns, hitherto in a position where from their

great elevation they could do
little
new
damage, were added to
was constructed a
little to the left (No. 12), armed with four field guns brought
from the promontory between the Betl and the Ashilta;
No. 13, also with four field guns, was so placed as to rake
four mortars already there
the advanced works of the

also throw shells into the
battery
enemy on New Akhoulgd, and

chasm between the two halves
336
But the most important work, and one

was the construction of a covered
of the promontory.
that cost infinite trouble,

gallery
from the lower ridge to the counterscarp of
Akhoulgd, with the double object of diminishing the

in passing that exposed position
at the
New
loss
and allowing the stormers
next assault to concentrate secretly under the counter-
scarp and carry that
work by
surprise.
This gallery, devised
and executed in circumstances of extraordinary

by the two young engineer
officers
difficulty
attached to the besieging
Count Neerod and another, was a new departure in

the art of war, and has perhaps remained unique.
It was
composed of a series of wooden shields made of planks
forces,
and
and was hung by ropes over
tightly fastened together,
the edge of an almost perpendicular
and there helped
cliff.
ledge here
it, and afforded space sufficient

work while in progress. On the
night of the 20th July it was partly destroyed by the mountaineers in a daring sortie, after which the ropes were
to support
for sentinels to guard the
replaced by chains.
A
to
whole month passed in this way
the
16th August
men were
killed or
during
wounded
from the 16th July
which not more than 100

but the sanitary conditions
were bad, and by the middle of August the army had

dwindled again to little more than 6000 men, the battalions
averaging no more than 450 bayonets.
Shamil's position
no
safety for
Meantime, however,
was growing desperate.
There was now
any one on any part of the promontory unless
where some of the women and children took

Water could only be brought from the rivers far
in the caves,
refuge.
below under
fire
of the Russian sharpshooters
were bad and scarce
there
was
little or
no
fuel
provisions
;
and the
was contaminated by the bodies of those who were

killed or died of disease.
The August sun beat down
air
337
on the barren rock, and day and night the Eussian

from all sides poured in their iron hail, nor was
there now any hope of relief.
fiercely
batteries
No wonder
Starshind
then that even Shamil
of Tchirkel,
lost heart.
Djamala,
had long before proffered himself
as
intermediary, but had been informed by Grabbe that he
would
listen to
to the
nothing unless Shamil offered his submission
Eussian Government, and in proof of his sincerity
gave up his son, Jamalu'd-din, as a hostage. On the 27th

July negotiations were opened, and for a few hours the
But the Imam's haughty
batteries ceased firing.
not yet tamed, and his tone was such as "it
spirit
was
ill-befitted a
Eussian general to
listen to."
In the beginning of August
Keebeet Mahomri,, the well-known Kadi of Tilitl, made
offers
of mediation, which were disdainfully rejected by
Grabbe.
On
the 12th August Shamil himself sent an envoy
to the Eussian headquarters,
and
stopped for a few hours
it
Imam wanted was
to
but
firing
was more than once
became evident that
gain time to repair his
all
the
fortifications,
and on the 16th an ultimatum was sent him,
to the effect
Akhoulgo
would be stormed the next morning. The storming columns
were got ready, and Jamalu'd-din not having appeared, on
the morning of the 17th, for the second time during the
that if his son were not surrendered by nightfall
siege,
Grabbe gave the signal
for a general assault.
As
before there were three columns, directed, one against each
half of the promontory, the third against the
chasm
bisect-
and the result was only less disastrous for though

by means of the hanging gallery the troops on the right
ing
it,
reached the
outwork and there
effected a lodgment,
when they attempted
to reach the second
first
they were met,
work, by the same obstinacy and the same deadly

1
Headman, or
See his report to Gol6vine, 24th August
elder.
:
Akti,
ix. p. 331.
fire
as
338
before,
and only suffered
less terribly
because the gallery
enabled them to bring up fascines and build some sort of
The Eussian
protection.
cluding 2
loss
was already 102
162 wounded (6
officers),
officers),
killed (in-
and 293
worn out with their exerand the whole of the enemy's position was practically
intact.
Failure once more stared them in the face, but
contused, the remaining troops
tions,
fortune smiled at
an all-round
fire,
former assault
last.
had
The Murids, exposed
this time to
more heavily than
suffered far
Shamil had again
lost
at the
some of his bravest
and most devoted adherents, and amongst them Sourkhai,

the fierce Murid who had figured so ominously at the interview with Klugenau at the spring of Ghimree, and who in
all military
man.
matters had since been the Imam's right-hand
The sun-scorched rock was covered with dead and
dying and wounded
the survivors were cumbered with the
care of a miserable crowd of half-starved

dren.
chil-
Further resistance seemed hopeless even to the heroic
Shamil gave way
mountaineers.
at last,
flag sent his son, Jamalu'd-din, a
hostage to the hated foe.

best be gauged
after,
women and
What
and
raising a white
boy of twelve
it
cost
him
to
years, as a
do so may
by the persistence with which, long years
he negotiated the return of one who had then become
a stranger to
him and
his country, a uniformed servant of
Whatever Shamil's faults, none can deny

that he was a most devoted husband and father.
Grabbe now consented to negotiate for the surrender of
Akhoulg6, and on the 18th General Pullo, with a small
suite, was admitted to the rock, and had an interview with
the Eussian Tsar.
that
Shamil, whose conditions, however
he should con-
tinue to dwell in his native mountains, and that Jamalu'd-
din should remain at Tchirkel in charge of the starshind,
were unacceptable.
Djamala
Pullo returned, but negotia-
339
tions continued for three days, during
which it gradually
became evident that Shamil had changed his mind as to
surrender, and on the 21st the assault was renewed.
For
the third time the Russians endeavoured to
New
their entry into
The Murids held out
failed.
when
night
make good
Akhoulg6, and for the third time they
fell their
position
as obstinately as ever,
was
Next morn-
intact.
still
ing (22nd August), however, at dawn,
when
the attack was
renewed, the soldiers to their astonishment met no

ance,
the
resist-
outwork so long and gallantly defended was
empty, and swarming into and beyond

in possession of the greater portion of
it
New
they were soon
remained behind while the
"
across the chasm.
rest tried to
At
Akhoulg6.
the village they found a few of the inhabitants
women
and
make
who had
their escape
desperate fight ensued
even the
and hurled themMeanselves unarmed against whole rows of bayonets." *

time two mountain guns were brought up and trained on
defended themselves with
fury,
Old Akhoulg6, which large numbers of the fugitives had

not yet reached.
opposite
cliff,
or
Crowds of them were seen climbing the

still descending the narrow and dangerous
paths to the bridge of planks which, deep
down
as
it
was,
spanned the chasm seventy feet above the channel of the

stream.
The Russians on
the plateau above dashed on in
pursuit, and, at the
same time, Tarasevitch's column ad-
vancing through the
defile,
scaled the rocks, got possession
of the bridge, and reached the surface of Old Akhoulgd

before the garrison was aware of
the fact that the
but
it
was too
its
presence.
enemy was upon them they

late
Waking
to
fired a volley,
the victorious Russians came pouring
and the western half of the promontory which, had the

bridge been destroyed in time, might yet have held out,
up,
Milioutine, p. 117.
840
though not
In the two days' fighting
was won.
for long,
the Kussians had lost
wounded and contused
150 killed (6
and 494
officers),
Akhoulg6 was taken
(15 officers).
whole week, accom-
at last, but the fighting continued for a
" Every
panied by the usual horrors of Caucasian warfare.
stone hut, every cave, had to be taken by force of arms.
The mountaineers, though
irretrievably
lost,
refused
surrender, and defended themselves fiercely women

children, with
stones or kindjals
their
in
all
and
hands, threw
themselves on the bayonets, or in despair flung themselves

over the
cliffs
to certain death.
the scenes of this terrible, fanatical struggle
all
killed their children with their
they should not
fall into
imagine
It is difficult to
own
mothers
hands, so only that
the hands of the Russians
families perished under the ruins of their sahlias.
whole
Some
of
the Murids, exhausted by wounds, sought none the less to

sell their lives
dearly
pretending to give up their weapons,
they treacherously killed those about to take them.
It
was
Enormous difficulty was experienced in driving the enemy out of the caverns in the
cliffs overhanging the Koisou.
It became necessary to
lower the soldiers there with ropes. Not less trying was
thus that Tarasevitch died.
it
for our troops to bear the stench with
less corpses filled the air.
men had
Akhoulg6s, the
More than
which the number-
In the chasm between the two

to be
changed every few hours.
a thousand bodies were counted
were carried down the
river.
large
numbers
Nine hundred prisoners were
taken, mostly women, children, and old men, and notwith-
standing their wounds and exhaustion, even these did not

refrain from the
most desperate deeds.
Some gathering up
The exact scene described by Xenophon in the Anabasis over 2000 years
" A terrible sight was now opened to their eyes, for the women flung their
children over the cliffs and then leapt after them, and the men followed their
1
ago
example."
Book
iv.
chap.
1.
341
their last strength, snatched the bayonets from their guards
and attacked them, preferring death to a degrading captivity.

These outbursts of fury were in strong contrast to the stoical
heroism of other of the Murids.
The weeping and wailing
of the children, the physical sufferings of the
sick and
wounded, completed the sorrowful scene." 1 By the 29th
August there remained not a single mountaineer on Akhoulgo.
The
siege
Russians in
had
lasted eighty days,
25
killed,
men
661
disease.
officers
and 487 men
men; and
91 officers and 1631
and had
;
the
cost
in wounded,
contused, 33 officers and
a total of nearly 3000, besides heavy losses from
The
over, the drama played out, the

what had become of the chief actor,
surprise of the spectators had taken no
siege
was
curtain rung down, but
who
to the infinite
visible part in the closing scene
It
may be imagined with
what ardour the Russians searched high and low for their
arch-foe, Shamil.
Every hole and cavern and corner was
ransacked again and again, and every body examined,
but living or dead he was nowhere to be found, nor could
any information be obtained from the survivors that threw
light on his disappearance.
Had he flung himself over the
cliffs like his sister Fatima and many another?
Or, incredible as it seemed, had he effected an escape more
miraculous even than that at Ghimree seven years before ?
It was not for some days that the truth became known, and
even then for a time
It
was
it
was hardly believed.
appeared that on the night of the 21st, seeing that
lost,
another
Shamil, with one wife and child
had perished in the siege
accompanied by a few
ix.
Milioutine, pp. 118-19.
pp. 331-38.
The following night

Grabbe's
official
the
wife
faithful
followers, took refuge in one of the caverns in the
above the Koisou.
all
little
cliff
party
reports are to be found in Akti,
342
descended to the river bank, and constructing a

of a few logs, sent
it
floating
down
raft
out
the river loaded with
dummies to distract the attention of the Russian pickets.

The ruse succeeded the freightless raft was quickly seen
and made the target for many a bullet. Meantime the
fugitives crept cautiously along the bank downstream until
Here they turned inland, but
they came to a ravine.
;
stumbled across a picket, and a fight took place, in the

course of which Shamil himself and his
little
son,
slung
across his mother's back, were wounded, and the Russian
lieutenant in
command
killed.
But the
line
was broken,
and hurrying on as best they could, the forlorn
little
band
gained the upper valley, and, in what desperate plight
may
well be imagined, climbed the pass, and scrambling

the mountain side, reached the river
spot a
little
Koisou
that
is,
at a
to the bridge of Ashilta, already
The bare sandstone here
from either side so as

waters,
bank once more
above the junction of the Andee with the Avar
close,
mentioned.
down
and the
to all but
projects in
huge
slabs
meet over the foaming
fugitives hastily bridging the intervening
bank and proceeded

They had not gone far when
to scale the mountain side.
they were observed by a party from Ghimree who, under
Oullou Bek, had been set to watch the bridge. Several
shots were fired at them but without effect, and Shamil,
space with a plank, crossed to the
seeing
who
they were, turned in bitterness and anger to his
faithless fellow-villagers,
out,
"We
left
shall
and shaking
his
fist
at them, cried
meet again, men of Ghimree!" then followed
companions up the rocks and disappeared from view.

Once more the Russians triumphed; once more the
Government in St. Petersburg congratulated itself on the
destruction of Shamil's influence and the extinction of
Muridism and once more they were fooled. Vanquished,
his

wounded, a homeless
hardly a follower,
was
left
it
fugitive,
may
843
without any means, with
well have seemed that nothing
the indomitable chieftain but the
life of a hunted
outlaw until death should put an end to his sufferings, or
betrayal crown them.
Yet within a year he was again the

within three he had inflicted a
leader of a people in arms
bloody defeat on his present victor; yet another, and
all
northern Daghestan was reconquered, every Russian garrison

there beleaguered or destroyed, and Muridism triumphant
in the forest and on the mountain from the
T&ek, from Vladikavkaz

end was not yet
the
In strong contrast
to the Caspian.
Samour
to
Truly the
to the northern campaign, the
Samour
expedition, led by Golovine in person, achieved valuable
and permanent
results
insignificant loss.
occupied
works
with very
The whole
little
fighting
valley of the
and quite
Samour was
a chain of forts built, including strong defensive
at the
important aoul of Akhtee
waters of the river a road was
and from the upper
commenced
over the main

by which communications between Daghestan and Georgia would be shortened some 300 versts
(200 miles). The many free communities of Samour were
chain, past Sheen,
brought together administratively by the establishment of a
Akhtee presided over by the Russian commandant, care being taken to maintain and safeguard the
Thanks to these wise measures,
local laws and customs.
political and military, the inhabitants of the populous valley
grew prosperous and peaceful, and though trouble arose
native divan at
more than once, notably in 1848, when Shamil made a

great effort to capture Akhtee, southern Daghestan henceforth not only caused
little
anxiety to Russia on the whole,
but served more than once as a useful base for military

operations against the enemy.
CHAPTER XXII
1840-1842
Apparent pacification of Tchetchnia Pullo's administration Shamil again

England and Egypt Shamil's rapid recovery of power His cruelty
Akhverdi Mahoma Shamil in Daghestan Hadji Mourad Russian plan
of campaign for 1841
Bakounin's death Dissensions between Grabbe
and Gol6vine F^se" takes Klugenau's command and is again replaced by
him Grabbers Dargo expedition Disastrous results of his operations
Grabbd recalled Golovine succeeded by Neidhardt
Count Gkabbid was
so satisfied with the immediate result
of his efforts that he thought
little
of Shamil's escape.
Indeed, the price he set upon the fugitive's head was no
more than Rs. 300 (30). 1
who
followed
closely
the
But the Emperor Nicholas,

of the Caucasus and
affairs
sometimes saw farther than either his Ministers or his

generals,
was not without misgivings.
of Grabbe" s report on the taking of
with his
own hand: "Very
On
the
margin
Akhoulg6 he wrote
good, but
it's
a pity that
Shamil escaped, and I confess to fearing fresh intrigues
on his
part,
notwithstanding that, without a doubt,
he
has lost the greater part of his means and of his influence.
We
must
see
what happens next." 2
1
By November Shamil had risen tenfold
harm caused by this troublesome man (Shamil)
in Russian estimation
" The
any means that can be

used to destroy him. Without doubt brave men are to be found amongst the
mountaineers devoted to us, who for a solid money recompense will undertake
to deliver us the head of this disturber of the peace. I hereby instruct you to
try this means, secretly proposing to those of the mountaineers you know, and
whose valour, loyalty, and enterprise you are assured of, to kill Shamil, offering
them a reward of not more than 1000 tchervontsi (c. 300), which, in case of
success, will be sent you." General Gol6vine, Russian commander-in-chief, to
Colonel Pullo, 17th
a
November 1838
Kavkazsky Sbwnik,
(secret)
vol. ix. p. 91.
justifies
Akti,
ix. p.
321.

The
345
state of things in Tchetchnia, however, during the
winter months of 1839-40 seemed amply to justify even

Grabbers optimism.
By his
orders General Pullo in
and again in January marched through the
Lower Tchetchnia, meeting no
December
greater part of
On
resistance.
the con-
Tchetchens for once seemed thoroughly cowed
trary the
murmur
they accepted without a
the conditions imposed
by the Russian commander, gave up outlaws, surrendered
and
a few Russian deserters
handed over a
number of muskets, and even
considerable
honour
prisoners,
the
now appointed
preestaffs
received with
govern them.
to
Grabbe" complacently attributed this marvellous change to

his success at Akhoulg6,
and
War
to the
in the
we have not succeeded

capture
and
flight,
to Golovine
Minister in St. Petersburg the re-establish-
ment of absolute peace

or
and reported both
of
all
whole country.
"
Although
in taking Shamil, yet the death
adherents,
his
own
his
shameful
the terrible lesson read to those tribes
him
supported him, have deprived
of
which
influence
all
and
reduced him to such a condition that, wandering alone

the mountains, he must think only of the means of
in
subsistence
sect
has
and his own personal
fallen,
with
all
safety.
The Murid
adherents and followers."
its
Dealing, moreover, with the plan of operations for 1840,

he wrote " Considering the present position of affairs in
:
Daghestan and Tchetchnia

expeditionary forces will
it
is
meet
highly probable that the
no
resistance,
and that
the buildings of the fort at Tchirke"i will be accomplished

without the necessity of fighting. In Tchetchnia no serious
no general
intention had been
unrest,
and Gherzel
1
aoul.
Kavkwsky Sbomik,
1
need be anticipated."
rising,
to build
two
forts
Grabbe" proposed
vol. x. p.
270
and see
The
only, at Tchirkel
now
ibid., ix. p.
to add a third
25 of Appendix.
346
Datcha-Barzoi, at the entrance to the lowest defile of
at
the river Argoun, thus initiating the construction of the

so-called
Tchetchen advanced
parallel.
But
huilt
at
when
as
it
and
the spring had not set in
Tchetchnia was once more up in arms.
hands in
Russians indeed played into Shamil's

that even
he could hardly have anticipated.
a brave and skilful
third
turned out, only one of the forts was
Gherzel aoul
all
VeliameenofFs
line,
officer,
but, as characterised
The
a way
Pullo was
by General
and by Grabbe" himself, he was a man of most

1
and what that must have meant in the
cruel nature,
Galafe"yeff
Caucasus we can well imagine.

unscrupulous.
and when,
The Tchetchens
He
was, moreover, quite
and hated him,
feared
failing to find Russians sufficiently acquainted
with the native language to
fill
the office of preestaff, he
proceeded to appoint renegade natives,
who
treated those
subordinated to them with shameful cruelty and injustice,

the measure of their patience was soon
filled.
Discontent
rife, and when the rumour spread

whether set about
by the disaffected natives themselves or invented by the
grew
preestaffs for their
own ends
that
the Tchetchens were
be disarmed, converted into peasants on the Russian
to
pattern
and subjected
to conscription,
it
only wanted a
spark to set the whole country once more in a blaze;

the people were ripe for action
and Shamil was
at hand.
there lacked but a leader
Six months had passed since the flight from Akhoulg6,
and already a great change had come over the fortunes

of the fugitive Imam. Received with open arms by the
faithful Shouaiib Moulla and Djevat Khan, Avars like him1
2
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
vol. x. p. 272.
With the mountaineers
to be disarmed was to be dishonoured, and the

attempt, often made, seldom succeeded even on a small scale hardly ever
without bloodshed.
347
self as indeed were all the great Murid leaders Shamil

had settled quietly in one of the smaller Tchetchen communities, where his influence soon became paramount.
The fame of his wisdom and holiness spread rapidly far
and wide;
deputations arrived from various quarters to
ask his guidance or

t)aghestan for
him rule; and, sending to

Akhverdi Mahoma, he accepted the lordoffer
ship over Little Tchetchnia on condition of absolute obedi-
ence to his commands, and rode from village to village

preaching the Shariat. 1 By the middle of March (1840)
the inhabitants were up in arms, General Pullo had
taken the alarm, and a collision had occurred on the

Soundja, not far from Grozny, between his troops and
the growing horde of Shamil.
The Tchetchens were
but the die was
defeated,
Russian
endurance
month or two of
to exasperate them beyond
and encouraged by news of the disasters that
rule
had befallen
had
their
cast.
sufficed
enemies on the Black Sea
coast,
and
wild rumours of foreign intervention, they drew the sword
once more.
Until the end of 1840 the war thus renewed
raged with even more than
its
former violence, and before
long embraced not only the whole of Tchetchnia, but a

large part of Daghestan as well.
At
this time,
thanks to the machinations of the noto-
Grabbers report to Tchernisheff, 31st March
Where more than one
Akti, ix. p. 248.
had been stormed by the local tribesmen and

Fort Lazareff was taken,
their garrisons put to the sword ibid., p. 249.
February 7 Fort Veliameenoff, February 29 Fort Mikhail, March 23 and
Fort Nicholas, April 2 but Fort Abeen (May 26) repulsed the enemy, who
thereupon dispersed: Golovine's Memoir, Akti, ix. p. 289. The garrison of
Fort Mikhail (Mikhailovskoe) agreed to blow up the powder magazine and
perish rather than surrender. This heroic determination was actually carried
through, and to this day the name of Arkheep Osipoff, the private who fired
the train, comes first on the roll of the Tengheen regiment, to which he
belonged. Whenever it is called the answer comes, "He died for the glory of
Bussian arms at Mikhailovskoe."
fort
348
rious
David Urquhart and
his emissaries, Bell
and Long-
worth, the English were a thorn in the side of the Eussians,
up the Tcherkess and kindred
stirring
Sea coast
intervention
The
war.
tribes of the
Black
encouraging them with false hopes of British

furnishing
them with arms and munitions
of
native successes were undoubtedly largely due to
these efforts, but the unhappy mountaineers had no reason

in
run
long
the
to
thank
would-be benefactors.
their
Meantime, strangely enough, the overt actions of Great

Britain had, quite unintentionally, the opposite effect, and
saved Russia very probably from disasters in comparison
with which the loss of a few small
forts
would have been
as nothing.
In
1839,
quote
to
threatened by a
M.
special
Berge\
danger on the side of Asiatic
Turkey, which was ready to
rise
the Pasha of Egypt at the
first
Ibrahim,
who had
man
en masse in favour of
movement
crossed the Taurus
his advanced guard Orfa
was
"Transcaucasia
son
his
and occupied with
and Diarbekir.
provinces were distributed
of
Mehemet
In our MussulPasha's proclama-
tions addressed to all the influential persons in Daghestan,

as follows
"
'
May God
send
down His
blessing on you
'"I have waged war with seven sovereigns English,

German, Greek, French, the Sultan, and others, who, by
the grace of God, have submitted completely to me.
I
turn
my
arms against
Russia,
wherefore,
Shamil-Efendi your Shah, and sending him two
command you to yield him

me in my undertaking. At
full obedience,
my commands
like the infidels.'
"
seals,
and to help
the same time I promise to
send you speedily a part of

to carry out
Now
appointing
my
will
Those who
fail
have their heads cut
off,
forces.

Affixed are the seals of
" Luckily,"
349
Mehemet and Ibrahim.
adds M. Bergd, " the rapid successes of the
English on the coast of Syria, and the deposition of Mehemet,

averted the danger from us."
who had won his early fame on the barren

mountains, now proved his mastery in that forest fighting
Shamil,
of which the Russians had already had such bitter ex-
whenever
Avoiding
perience.
possible
danger
the
of
pitched battles with the disciplined troops of the Tsar,
he moved hither and thither with marvellous celerity,

raiding the settlements of Cossack and " peaceable " Tchetchen alike
punishing with ruthless severity those of the
who
natives
standard; threatening,
hesitated to join his
himself, within twenty-four hours, points 70 or 80 miles

apart,
while his lieutenants carried out the same tactics
to the borders of
Daghestan on the
east, to
the neighbour-
hood of Vladikavkaz on the west, thus keeping the enemy

on the alert, and wearing them out by the most harassing
Grabbe at first refused to believe that his
of all warfare.
predictions could be so utterly falsified.
He
remained, far
away, at Stavropol, leaving Pullo to cope with a state of

things brought about mainly by that
and
folly
officer's
own
sending General Galafeyeff to supersede Pullo.

all
cruelty
and, later on, transferred himself to Piatigorsk,
But soon
the forces of the eastern flank were engaged, and
chief
was constrained
himself.
It
to take the
command
in the
its
field
was now that Akhverdi
Mahoma
acquired fame as a
partisan leader, raiding the western portion of the Left Flank

far
and wide.
Akti,
ix.,
He
ventured even
Introduction,
vi.
to
attack Mozd6k, but
See also for the effect on the western Cau-
casus, Grabbe's report to Tchernisheff, ibid., p. 252.

2
Grabbe to Tchernisheff, 19th April 1840 Akti, ix. p. 258.
:
350
was beaten
off
somewhat ignominiously, and
to
appease
Shamil presented him with one of his captives, the beau-
Armenian Shouanet. When it came to actual fighting

the Russians seem generally to have had the best of it,
tiful
notably in the
affair
on the river Valerik (11th July 1840),
immortalised by Le'rmontoff,
of that name.
who was
But the net
result of the year's
in Shamil's favour,
campaigning was much
and prepared the way
successes in the near future.

ever,
poem
present, in his
he came near to losing his
for his marvellous
In the month of June, howlife
as a result of his
own
In an outlying aoul of the Ingoushee,
merciless severity.
not far from Nazran, whose inhabitants hesitated to accept

the Shariat, he
demanded the surrender of two Tchetchen
prisoners held by one of the villagers, Goubeesh.
When
him seized by his Murids

gouged out. The same night the victim
who had been bound and imprisoned,
the latter refused, Shamil had
and
his right eye
of this savagery,
managed
to escape,
and snatching a kindjal from the belt
of a sleeping sentinel, entered Shamil's
room and
dealt
him
wounds before being cut down by the Murids.

who had attempted to defend him,
were also killed, and the rest of his family, to the number of
eight, shut up in their dwelling and burnt alive.
three severe
Goubeesh's two brothers,
Early in 1840, not content with his successes in Tchetchnia, Shamil extended his operations to Daghestan,
thousands flocked to his standard

Russians, though
thanks mainly
to
greatly
where
but for the present the
outnumbered, held their own,
Klugenau and
his gallant subordinates,
1
Valerik in Tchetchen means " the river of death." The hero of this fight
was Colonel, afterwards General, Freitag, whose brilliant services render him
one of the most conspicuous figures in the Murid war. Lermontoff was mentioned in despatches for his conduct on this occasion Kavkazsky Sbornik, x.
:
p. 305.

Passek, Yevdokeemoff, and Belgard.
On
351
the 10th July
Shamil and his old antagonist once more measured strength

at Ishkartee,
Shoura,
cut
Shamil, for
Soulak, just
where Klugenau, reinforced just in time from

1
way through greatly superior numbers.

some unknown reason, now retired across the
when Shoura and all northern Daghestan lay
his
On
apparently at his mercy. 2
genau led
his
men down
14th September Klu-
the
the 5000
feet of precipitous road,
past the well-known spring, to Ghimree, and took by storm
that birthplace of the
first
The blow was
and third Imams.
a severe one to Shamil; his prestige suffered greatly, and

for a
time the Murid cause in Daghestan made
little
pro-
But in November an event occurred in Avaria, the

results of which in the long run far more than compensated
Shamil for the defeats he had suffered.
gress.
Hadji Mourad, who in 1834 killed Hamzad in revenge

the murder of the Avar princes, had ever since kept
for
faith
with
the
Russians,
Thanks
uniform.
and had
mainly
to
his
donned
even
influence,
their
Shamil's
advances had been coldly received at Khounzakh, and
Klugenau was fully alive to the value of such a service.

But a deadly feud reigned between Hadji Mourad and
Akhmet, Khan of Mekhtoulee, who had been entrusted
with the government of Avaria, and the latter now saw his
On the preopportunity to deal his enemy a mortal blow.
tence that Hadji Mourad was secretly in communication
with Shamil, he denounced him to the Russian commander
1
He was
Simborsky,
for a
time in an almost desperate position
who had been
his note to Colonel
command at Shoura, ran as follows " Very

number of officers and men, I ask you to send off
left in
Having lost a large

instantly Major Voleensky with three companies and one gun, telling him to
join me without fail on the road to Ishkartee do not forget to send officers.
urgent.
7 p.m., 10th July."
(Akti, ix. p. 338.)
This reinforcement
save for invalids and a few recruits.

2
Gol6vine to Tchernisheff, 6th August 1840
Akti,
ix. p.
left
340.
Shoura bare,
352
and had him
Klugenau, who had at the same
arrested.
time received similar information
Akhmet
from
Major
inspired
apparently by
commanding the Russian
Lazareff,
detachment at Khounzakh, was greatly disturbed
knowing what
to be sent
to
to believe, ordered Hadji
Shoura under
escort,
and put
Mourad
and, not
to death immediately if
rescue were attempted on the way.
any
Accordingly, on the
who had been kept chained

to a gun for ten days, was sent off from Khounzakh in
charge of an officer and forty-five men of the Apsheron
regiment. The snow lay deep on the mountains, and as
10th November the prisoner,
main road was reported impassable, a roundabout

way was taken, and near the aoul Boutsro the path
alongside a precipice was so narrow that Hadji Mourad
and his escort could only pass in single file. His position,
with two score armed men in front and behind, seemed
the
to preclude the possibility of escape, but for greater safety
a rope was tied round his middle, the ends being held
by the two men nearest him. At the narrowest place

he suddenly seized the rope in both hands, wrenched it
away from the soldiers, and threw himself over the pre-
At any other season he must have been killed

outright; as it was, none thought it possible that he
cipice.
could have
survived the
fall.
Hadji Mourrid, however,
snow, and not in vain. One leg

was broken and he was otherwise hurt, but managed
had counted on the
nevertheless to crawl to a neighbouring sheep farm, and

lived to
become the scourge of the eastern Caucasus
Shamil's most daring and successful follower.
months of uninterrupted
warfare, during which the unhappy lowlands of Tchetchnia
Meantime, however,
had been devastated

the point
after nine
as never before, both sides were at
of exhaustion.
Shamil dispersed his mobile

hordes
353
the Eussian troops went into winter quarters
and, though fighting
still
continued sporadically, the year
But there could be no question

Russia on the whole
had been successful in the field, but had nevertheless
lost ground
while Shamil, who had entered Tchetchnia
twelve months earlier with only seven followers, was now
at the head of a people in arms, his iron rule firmly
closed quietly enough.
as to the results of the campaign.
established from the borders of Daghestan almost to within

sight of Vladikavkaz.
Golovine's plan of campaign for
1841, approved by
the Emperor, included the building of a fortress on the

Soulak,
opposite
the
important
aoul
Tchirkel,
the
in-
habitants of which were to be severely " punished " for

treachery.
The
defences of Shoura were to be strengthened,
new citadel built at Neezovde, and the old one at

Khounzakh reconstructed. All this in Daghestan, where
an army numbering some 12,000 men was to take the
a
In Tchetchnia a slightly less numerous force was

march to and fro, " devastating the land with fire
and sword," and having brought the inhabitants to their
field.
to
knees, the long-talked-of fortress at Datcha-Barzoi at the
entrance
of the
Argoun
defile
was to be
The
built.
troops in the northern Caucasus were reinforced by the

2
14th Infantry Division, comprising sixteen battalions, and

the Emperor, whose misgivings after Akhoulg6 had proved
only too well founded,
made known
his expectation that
means thus put at the disposal of General Golovine

"would produce corresponding results." But Nicholas,
the
i
These unhappy people, like other borderers, turned now to Shamil, now
to the Russians, as the chances of the war seemed to favour one or the other,
and in the sequel were cruelly maltreated by both.
2 Golovine's Memoir
Akti, ix. p. 293. The field army, in four separate
:
columns, comprised this year 37 battalions and 77 guns, besides Cossack and
native cavalry.
354
whose
had been
military pride
Paskievitch's victories during the
was destined
for the
than disappointment.
by
flattered to the height

first
years of his reign,
remainder of his
life
to little else
indeed, was taken,
Tchirke'i,
the projected fortress (Evghe'nievskoe) built;
and
Tchetchnia
But when, after eight months' desultory fighting, the troops went once more into winter quarters,
Shamil's position was stronger than before, the danger to
Russia increasingly grave.
Especially was this the case
in Daghestan, where the evil consequences of Hadji
ravaged.
Mourad's defection were not long in showing themselves.
That daring leader had no sooner recovered from the

effects of his fall
than he established himself
at Tselmdss,
not far from Khounzakh, and, being appointed

Shamil, devoted
by
naiib
his energies and influence to furthering
all
the cause of Muridism amongst his countrymen, the Avars.
Already in January (1841), after repeated attempts to
win back Hadji Mourad

it
to his allegiance,
Klugenau found
necessary to take serious steps against him.
numbering nearly 2000 men, of
whom
force
half were native
cavalry),
left
Khounzakh
under the leadership of no
less
a personage than General
(irregular
militia
Tselm^ss
for
Bakounin, commandant of the Imperial Russian
who happened
artillery,
be in the Caucasus on a tour of
to
in-
and thinking that his experience would be not
spection,
3
without benefit to the expeditionary corps, took over the
command.
6th);
all
Passek led the attack on the aoul (February

but one tower was taken, but that held out
and in the fighting that ensued Bakounin was
stoutly,
The
mortally wounded.
native
militia
held
Grabbd's report
was finished and dedicated 25th September 1841

His own words.
It
aloof,
the
Akti, ix. p. 272.

:
ibid., p. 346.

Russians lost nearly a third of their number
enemy being
command
zakh.
heavily reinforced,
Passek,
on
355
and, the
whom
devolved, effected a brilliant retreat to
the
Khoun-
Hadji Mourad's father and two brothers were
killed,
himself wounded. 1
By 2nd
"we have
clusion that
enemy
Goldvine had come to the con-
July 1841
never had in the
Caucasus an
savage and dangerous as Shamil.
so
Owing
to
a combination of circumstances his power has acquired a

religious-military
character,
beginning of Islam,
same
the
Muhammad
by which,
at
the
shook three-quarters of
Shamil has surrounded himself with blind
the globe.
executants of his
and inevitable death awaits
will,
who draw down on
all
themselves the slightest suspicion of a
desire to overturn his rule.
Hostages are killed without
mercy in the event of the families they are taken from

proving false
and the
communities are his
rulers
he has put over the various
slaves, blindly loyal,
and endued with
The suppression of this terrible

despotism must be our first care." 2 But by the end of
power of
life
and death.
October the state of things in Daghestan was such that

a large part of those forces with which Grabbe" was about
to
make a
Tchetchnia had to be detached
final effort in
and the projected campaign was
to strengthen Klugenau,
abandoned.
Count Grabbe* paid a

close of
with
to
visit
St.
Petersburg at the
1841 and succeeded in persuading the Emperor,
whom
he was in high favour, to place at his disposal,
independently of Gol6vine,
the whole of the forces in
northern Daghestan in addition to those of his

i
2
3
Gol6vine to Tchernisheff.
ix. p. 344
Gol6vine to Tchernisheff Akti, ix. p. 346.
Grabbe's report on the year 1841 ibid., p. 277.
Akti,
own
Left
356
As
Flank.
a natural consequence the tension already exist-
ing between the two commanders soon eventuated in a

bitter
and lasting
General
was sent
Fe'se'
At the beginning of 1842

by Gol6vine to Daghestan, where
quarrel.
he captured the important aoul, Gherghdbil (20th February),
and recovered
Koisoubou.
for
Russia the greater part of Avaria and
But when Grabbe" returned he replaced
by Klugenau, his
old
enemy, who in
Golovine's
F^se*
eyes
could do nothing right. 2
Meantime on 21st March Shamil

raided Kazi-Koumoukh in force and carried off the ruling
and his small
family, together with the Russian resident

3
escort of Cossacks.
He was well beaten here, however,
by Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff in June. 4 The operations in
Tchetchnia were resumed on the 30th May, when Grabbe"

set out
from Gherzel aoul with an army of over 10,000
men and
twenty-four guns.
General Gol6vine, then
commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, shall

follows in his
" Grabbers
own words
intention
still
tell
us what
quickly,
was
to
reach
Dargo
destroy that aoul, then cross the range dividing Tchetchnia
from northern Daghestan and subdue Goumbet and Andee.

It must be noted that he undertook this movement at
a time
when he knew
already that all Shamil's forces
had been directed against Kazi-Koumoukh, and when he

might clearly see that by leaving Daghestan unprotected
Ountsoukoul was occupied by a detachment commanded by Yevdokeemoff.
villagers took the Russian side, and when a fanatical Murid stabbed
Yevdokeemoff, they killed him, his wife and sister, and destroyed his dwelling.
They arrested, moreover, seventy-eight Murids, and delivered them as prisoners
Golovine's official report, Akti, ix. p. 355 and Fes(S's report,
to the Russians
1
The
ibid.,
pp. 363-72.
2 Ok61nitchi has nothing but praise for Fese,

and tells us that when Shamil
heard of his recall he made several extra prayer-bows, so rejoiced was he at the
news.
3
Ibid., pp. 300, 362.

Shamil's residence.
Ibid., pp.
386-90.
357
and abandoning Prince Argouteensky's small division to

its own resources, he exposed the
whole of that country
to the greatest danger.
"At
the same time the very magnitude of the force
he collected
He
ency.
for this
movement
had with him,
provisions, a large
served to impair
its effici-
to carry his military stores
number
and
of carts and some 3000 horses.
On
the march this baggage train, owing to the difficult

nature of the roads, covered a distance of several versts,
and
to protect
it
even by a thin line of soldiers took
nearly half the column.
With
a couple of battalions told
the advance guard and as
off for
many
for the rear,
and
the rest broken up to form the protecting lines on each

side
or
help the
train
along,
extremely weak, having no

units
ties,
besides which
it
men
had
the whole
force
became
free to support the various
to overcome very great difficul-
presented not only by Nature but by the efforts of the
mountaineers,
who
quite understood that the
march through
the deep forests of Itchkeria gave them their one chance
of success, and that once the column emerged from the

difficult
defile
they would
be
unable
to
work
it
any
harm.
The 30th May the column made only 7 versts,

though no enemy was met.
All that night rain fell
heavily, making the roads still worse, and delaying progress
to such an extent that up to the evening of the 31st,
"
after
a fifteen hours' march, fighting
all
the time,
the
column had only made 12 versts more, and was forced to

bivouac for the night on a waterless plain.
" Next day the number of the enemy had increased,
though according to trustworthy accounts it reached less
than 2000 owing to their main forces being with Shamil
in Kazi-Koumoukh the road was yet more difficult, bar;
358
more
ricades
frequent, and for the second day the troops

were without water. There were already several hundred
wounded, and the general confusion increased hourly. 1
" In
way
this
the
column made only 25
three days, and General Grabbe saw that
impossible
it
On
continue the advance.
to
versts
in
was already
the night of
the 1st June, abandoning his enterprise, he gave orders

to retreat
by the same road.
" If the advance was unfortunate, the retirement was

infinitely
"
The
culties
more
so.
troops
who had overcome
manfully
all
the
diffi-
of the advance, seeing that they had failed, and
not being accustomed to
failure, lost spirit
and want of control became extreme
the confusion
no one made the
proper dispositions, and no one troubled about keeping
The retreat, which necessitated the

when time allowed, the destruction of
the column together.
abandonment
or,
everything that could impede movement,
if
only to save
the wounded, the guns, and perhaps some portion of the
impedimenta, assumed the appearance of a complete rout;

there
were battalions that took
barking of dogs.
to
flight
at
the
mere
In these conditions the losses were
bound to be excessive.
"This picture, however sad, presents unfortunately the
But
simple truth, without any exaggeration whatever.
in
painting
things
as
they were one must not forget
the meritorious deeds that shone out with greater brightness amid the surrounding gloom.
of
five
field-guns already in
the
Such was the saving

hands of the enemy,
1 In the narrow wooded denies the naib of Upper Tchetchnia, Shoua'ib

Moulla, ordered his men to occupy some of the gigantic beech-trees. Room
was found in each for from thirty to forty men, who poured a deadly fire on
the approaching Russians. The volleys of whole battalions failed to dislodge
the garrisons from these improvised towers of defence.

which cost the
battalion
commander
of the gallant
life
359
of the third
Kabarda regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel
of the
Triaskin.
"At
last,
on the 4th June, the Tchetchen column
got back to Gherzel aoul, having lost in killed, wounded,
and
missing
66
and
officers
more
besides one field-gun and nearly

stores."
Not
all
than
1700
men,
and
the provisions
satisfied
with this lesson, General Grabbe under-
took a second expedition soon afterwards, this time in
Marching by way of Tsatanikh, he took

not far beyond Ashilta
but it had been burnt
Daghestan.
Igalee,
On
"
by the Murids.
the night of the 28th June," says
General Goldvine, " General Grabbe
on his return
set out
and reached Tsatanikh with a loss, in this fruitless attempt,

that from its inception promised no advantage, of 11
The
and 275 men.
night-retreat from Igalee
was
accompanied by the same disorders as that through the
Itchkerian forest, while the enemy, according to Akhmet,
officers
Khan
of Mekhtoulee, did not this time exceed 300 men."
In the course of four years, 1839-1842, the Eussians

lost
in expeditions, mostly under the direct
and 1756 men
Grabbe", 64 officers
and 6204 men wounded,
killed,
command
and 372
officers
contused, or missing, or a total
of 436 officers and 7960 men, and had accomplished

or nothing.
map
end
of chapter xxiv.
See
Golovine's Memoir, Akti,
little
ibid., p.
of
at
ix. p.
302
and Golovine to Count Kleinmikhel,
395.
Golovine's Memoir,
The depletion was such, that in June 1842

Navagheen regiments mustered only 576 and
the Apsheron regiment 556, of Paskievitch's, 4
ibid., note.
battalions of the Kabarda and
526
men
respectively, of
battalions in
all,
1450.
Eleven battalions totalled 5555,
i.e.
not half their
Four regiments of the 19th and 21st Divisions had not one
commanding officer between them ibid., 394, Colonel Wolff's secret report.
full
strength.
360
It
is
overtook
much
not too
Russia
in
the
largely due to the rivalry
and
Gol6vine;
and that
to
say that the
Caucasus
at
disasters that
this
time
were
and bickerings between Grabbe

such
state
of
things was
allowed to exist must be laid to the sole charge of the
Emperor Nicholas.
Grabbe' was now, at last, recalled at his own request,
and on the 21st December Golovine was replaced by
General Neidhardt.
CHAPTER XXIII
1843-1844
ShamiPs military organisation His 1843 campaign Loss of the Russian forts
in Avaria
Passek at Ziriani Siege of Neezov6e Of Shoura Freitag
to the rescue Death of Akhverdi Mahoma Shamil and his mother
Nicholas I.'s demands Large reinforcements Russian success in KaziKoumoukh And at Ghillee Death of Shouaib Moulla Shamil's cruelty
Defection of Daniel Sultan Fort Vozdveezhenskoe built
By
the autumn of 1843 Shamil had completed his pre-
parations for a decisive campaign.
In order to obtain the
nucleus of a standing army, and at the same time keep

control over
a body
of
the rest of the
armed horsemen,
inhabitants, he
called
mourtazeks,
one from every ten households, whose duty

ready at any
moment
had raised
to obey his slightest
chosen
was
it
to be
command,
return for which they were quartered on the villagers,

besides
had
to feed their horses, cultivate their land,
Nothing more admirably adapted
reap their crops.
end in view could possibly have been
devised.
in
who
and
to the
Shamil had
henceforth in every aoul a select band of devoted followers,
whose duties and
privileges
were equally to their
The mourtazeks were divided
into tens, hundreds,
taste.
and
five
hundreds, under leaders of corresponding rank and importance.
They were
black, tcherkesses,
dressed, the
1
men
in yellow, the officers in
and both wore green turbans. 2
Leaders
1
The tcherkess is the long robe, the distinguishing dress of the peoples of
the Caucasus, with cartridge cases, generally of silver, sewn across both
breasts. It takes its name from the patronymic of small tribe which has
likewise through the Italian supplied the much-abused word " Circassian."
2
Kavkazsky Sbornik, vi. p. 43. Another account says the moullas wore
green turbans, the nai'bs yellow, the centurions variegated, the criers red,
hadjis brown, executioners black, and all others white Tchitchagova, p. 48,
" Shamil."
:
361
362
of hundreds and five hundreds, the latter generally naibs,
wore medals on their breasts x with the inscription, " There
Other marks of
no stronger help than that of God."
is
were devised
distinction
for
those
who were
conspicuous for courage or good conduct
Akhverdi Mahoma,
"
scribed,
No
first
braver
especially
thus the famous
of the naibs, wore a sword in-
man,
no
The
blade."
sharper
mourtazeks were supplemented in time of need by a levy

of one
man from
each household,
who were
placed under
temporary leaders, and divided in the same way

great emergencies the call
while in
was made on every man
aoul, or the district, capable of bearing arms.
swore to die for Shamil
if
in the
Those who
need be received from him two
bags of flour a month, and bore on the front of their sheepskin hats a square piece of green cloth
those
who showed
cowardice in fight were distinguished by a metal ticket on

their backs,
indeed, they escaped mutilation or death.
if,
For Shamil knew no pity where his principles or authority
were
at
and accompanied,
stake,
after
the
fashion
of
Oriental despots, by his executioner, bearing aloft a huge
hands and heads, not only
long-handled axe, lopped
off
whenever prescribed by the
Shariat, but at the slightest sus-
It follows that his rule was

from popular, especially in Avaria, which had been
picion of disloyalty to himself.
now
far
divided as to
ginning
the acceptance of Muridism from the be-
where
Kazi Moulla had been defeated, Hamzad
1
Shamil professed that the patterns for these medals had been sent him
by the Sultan of Turkey. Written patents were given for them, but for want
of means each recipient had to procure the medal itself at his own expense.
This account of Shamil's military organisation differs very considerably
from that given by Rounovsky, as he declares, on Shamil's authority see

"Shamil's Code" in Voyenny Sbornik, 1862; but as the above was published
twenty years later in the Kavkazslcy Sbornik, it may stand. Similar contradictions meet us at every step, and it says little for Russian historians of the
war that they are allowed to remain unsolved.
;
363
and where Shamil's share in the slaughter of the

royal family was neither forgotten nor forgiven.
But these
killed,
unfortunate people were " between the devil and the deep
sea," for if Shamil's severity
lives,
made them go
Russian exactions rendered those
"One
having.
in terror of their
lives hardly
worth
cannot help noticing that the position of
the natives in those parts of Daghestan which had sub-
mitted to us was extremely burdensome; weighted with

our demands, they murmured against us, and went over to
the enemy at the
first
opportunity.
For instance, the supply
of fuel to our forts in Avaria was for the most part imposed
on the people of that khanate and of the Koisoubou community, and they were paid only twenty kopecks per
donkey-load of brushwood gathered with the greatest
difficulty in forests 30 and 40 versts off.
When donkeys
failed, it frequently happened that women brought in
the fuel on their backs, and received the same payment."
was some
It
"
when
nearly
suffered
of
warm
from a
food.
burdensome
to
the natives that
Koisoubou and Avaria
rebelled, our forts
consolation,
all
no doubt,
terrible dearth of firewood,

.
The
and consequently
transport of provisions
for the natives, the
a quarter kopeck per verst at

.
was no
less
payment being only one and
first,
afterwards two kopecks.
All this enforced labour bore heavily on the native
population, exciting strong discontent.
."
On
the other
hand, " the position of our own troops was no better, and
such as only Russian soldiers would submit to with such

truly heroic abnegation."
They had,
in fact, to build forts
and barracks, cut and carry forage and firewood and timber,
convoy transports, and mend roads, in addition to their
and garrison
service,
and
this in a
field
bad climate and on
Okolnitchi, Voyenny Sbornih for 1859, p. 169.
Ibid., p. 171.
364
deep-seated petty
the latter owing to the
inferior food,
This, perhaps, accounts for the
peculation of those days.
frequent mention throughout the war of Russian deserters,
who, according to Bodenstedt's solemn affirmation, formed
Hamzad Bek,
One
the second Imam's, entire bodyguard, as they
Abbas Mirza's
certainly did
in Tabriz.
great advantage of Shamil's military system
was
enabled him to gather or disperse his forces at
that
it
will,
and in an incredibly short space of time
him
also
to
dispense with
it
allowed
any elaborate commissariat.
His strategy at the time we are speaking of may be
From his central position at Dileem he

enemy north, east, and south, kept them
on the move, dispersed his commandos to
called masterly.
threatened the
continually
their
homes, gathered them again as
if
by magic, and,
aided by the extraordinary mobility of mounted troops,
who
required no
plies
but what each individual carried with him, swooped
baggage,
nor any equipment or sup-
down on the Russians continually where least

The word commando is used purposely, for not
it
apply accurately to the forces led by his
Shamil's whole system of warfare recalls in

that of the BOers
stances in
nor
is
only does
naiibs,
many
but
respects
this surprising, for the circum-
both cases were often
produced like
expected.
similar,
and not unnaturally
effects.
In the present instance he had

ness of the enemy's position
Russian forces were broken
numerous poorly -
fortified
up
in
fully grasped the
weak-
Daghestan, where the
into small bodies, holding
places,
scattered
over
a vast
extent of extremely difficult country seething with discontent
and
advantage.
it
is
admitted that he turned
Ably conceived and
it
to the fullest
brilliantly executed,
his
plans were crowned with a success even he could hardly

have dared to anticipate.
failed completely to
365
His old antagonist, Klugenau,
On the 16th August

he reported that the Murid gathering had dispersed, and
that all was quiet; yet on the 27th Shamil set out from
Dileem at the head of an army, and in less than twentyfathom them. 1
four hours appeared before Ountsoukoul,
50 miles away,
where he was joined the same day by Keebeet Mahoma

from Tilitl, and Hadji Mourad from Avaria, each with a
large party, the united forces
The
rapidity
of
this
country, the precision
above
the fact that
all,
under Klugenau's very

place
it,
amounting
to
10,000 men.
march over a mountainous

combined movement, and
was prepared and carried out
long
of the
it
eyes,
without his even suspecting
Shamil's military abilities before us in a more
favourable light than anything in his previous career, and

entitle
him
leader,
even of the highest
to
rank as something more than a guerilla

class.
Ountsoukoul had openly declared against him,
had
surrendered seventy-eight of his Murids to Yevdokeemoff
the previous year, and had admitted a Russian garrison.
was of
It
vital
importance to show that such things could
not be done with impunity, and for this reason his

object
was
to punish the
inhabitants
and enforce their
submission, his next to destroy the garrison.

his opponents' blunders,
he
first
effected both,
Thanks
to
and more.
General Okolnitchi gives a table showing all these forces and their dismoment when Shamil commenced his operations. He says
of Klugenau: "He understood very well how to carry on the war, and was
successful in command of expeditions but he was quite incapable of directing
affairs in such a crisis as that of 1843."
Voyenny Sbornik, 1859, "Review of
Recent Military Events in Daghestan," third article.
And Golovine, after
saying that the unfortunate state of things in Daghestan in 1842 was due
mainly to Klugenau's mistakes, writes " Without denying the military
qualities of Klugenau on the field of battle, I have acquired the conviction
by long experience that he is not sufficiently to be trusted as administrator
Gol6vine to Tchemisheff, 15th February
of the country confided to his care."
location at the
Akti,
ix. p.
348.
366
When
enemy's
Colonel Vesselitsky, at Ghimree, heard of the
approach,
instructions,
with
he
laudable
the
He was joined
soukoul.
out without waiting for
hurried
object
on the way
of
Ount-
saving
by Major Grab6vsky,
who, equally without authority, had brought with him

part of the
Two more
garrison
of Tsatanikh on the same errand.
companies were picked up at Kharatchee, and
with this combined force of rather more than 500

with two guns, Vesselitsky marched on Ountsoukoul.
men
On
the morning of the 29th, leaving his guns on the height
above the aoul, he descended into the gardens, and tried

gain possession of them, but was driven back with
to
heavy
loss.
Meantime the enemy had outflanked him,
stormed the height, and taken possession of the guns.
The unhappy remnant
was immediately
of the Russians
surrounded, and in spite of an heroic attempt by Captain

Schultz at the head
of the
Apsheron regiment to carve a way

disorder to
in
men were
killed
Schultz,
of the
out, they
entire
other
officers
force
a few
escaped by swimming across the Koisou.
who had been sent
off in
were driven
Vesselitsky was taken
the river bank.
Grab6vsky,
prisoner,
company of the
grenadier
and 477
men
only
Yevdokeemoff,
hot haste by Klugenau to
effect a
concentration at Tsatanikh, was prevented in this object by
the rash movements of the above-mentioned
officers,
and
witnessed their destruction from afar without being able to

help them.
Two
days later the garrison of the Russian fort
surrendered, after a very gallant defence, to Shamil,
who had
already stormed and captured the aoul from the natives. 1
Klugenau, meantime, had reached Tsatanikh, and had

gathered there a force of 1100 men, but misfortune pur1
as a
Shamil allowed Lieutenant Anosoff, the commander, to retain his sword

of respect for his valiant conduct
Akti, ix. p. 769, note.
mark

sued him.
367
The important
position of Kharatchee had

been entrusted to Major Kossovitch with 210 regulars
and some native militia, with instructions not to leave
it on any consideration.
Nevertheless, on the approach
of Shamil he abandoned his post without waiting to be

attacked, and retired to Balakhani.
The first result was
a gallant but unsuccessful attempt to retake Kharatchee,
wherein the leader, Major Zaitseff, 8 other oflicers, and
110 men were killed, 3 officers and 68 men wounded.
Klugenau's communications with Shoura were now en-
dangered,
having
and,
Balakhani to
to
guard them and
garrisons in Avaria, he
and,
course,
between
choose
retiring
attempting to
to
save the
decided in favour of the latter
abandoning
his
base,
made
way
his
to
Khounzakh.
There he was surrounded and besieged by

Shamil until relieved on the 14th September by MajorGeneral Prince Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff, who fought his
way up most
gallantly from southern
ing what desperate straits
The combined
6000
forces at
but owing,
nothing
his
Daghestan on hear-
superior
officer
was
Khounzakh now amounted
apparently,
of importance
to
in.
to over
Klugenau's indecision,
was attempted
and meantime,
within twenty-five days from his sudden appearance before
Ountsoukoul (27th August to 21st September), Shamil had

taken
all
the Russian fortified places in Avaria except
the capital, 2 together with 14 guns; and the Russians had

lost in
the same short space of time in killed, wounded,
and prisoners 65
officers
and 1999 men.
Akhaltchee had
1 Klugenau's letters to Neidhart tell of his determination to die fighting,

but show no hope of salvation Akti, ix. p. 760. Neither he nor Rennenkampf, in command at Shoura, believed it possible for Argouteensky to make
:
his
way
a
to Khounzakh.
Ountsoukoul, Kharatchee, Tsatanikh, Moksokh, Balakhani, Akhaltchee,
and Gotsatl.
368
been surrendered in cowardly fashion by the
command without firing a shot

abandoned, as we have seen
at
;
in
officer
Kharatchee shamefully
all
the other places the
honour of the Russian army was gallantly maintained against

overwhelming odds at Tsatanikh and Gotsatl heroically. 1
Shamil did not venture to attack the
Russians
at
Khounzakh, though Hadji Mourad urged it; and in this

right, for defeat with heavy loss was all but certain,
and the prestige won by his phenomenal successes would
he was
The withdrawal
be gone.
of the Russians
could be achieved in another
way with no such
Shamil was too good a general not to know
He
retired to Tchinkat,
the 30th September
adjoining
Vnezapnaya.
fort,
and thence
made an
from Avaria
risk,
and
it.
to Dileem,
and on
attack on Andreyevo and the
The attempt
failed
owing to
the courage and resourcefulness of the Russian commander,
men
Dileem had made
Colonel Kozlovsky, and Shamil then dismissed his

their
homes
but his reappearance at
to
it
impossible for the Russians to keep the bulk of their forces
shut up in Avaria, and Klugenau, therefore, returned to
Shourd on the 28th September, leaving Passek in garrison
Khounzakh with 4 battalions, and Argouteensky at

Balakhani with as many more and his Kouba native
at
militia,
to guard the defile.
named
general
retired
to
Two weeks
later the
southern Daghestan,
last-
leaving,
apparently, only 1^ battalions distributed between Balak-
hani and Ziridni, but the accounts are contradictory.

told, there
now
were
in northern
of Lieutenant-General Gourko,
Daghestan
All
at the disposal
who had taken
over the
supreme command, 17 battalions counting 9000 bayonets, 2
all
1
Klugenau's report of 29th September to Gourko gives a
the above events Akti, ix. pp. 767-74.
2
This again shows how the Russian forces had dwindled.
:
full
account of

and
sotnias of cavalry (c.
enemy had
800)
the main body of the
and the period of
dispersed,
369
danger, was thought to be at an
not of
disaster, if
But two
end.
fatal
mistakes had been made, and Shamil's eagle eye failed not
The important post of Gherghdbil, at the

the Avar and Kazi-Koumoukh Koisous, was
to note them.
junction of
garrisoned by only 306
few artillerymen
men
of the Tiflis regiment, with a
Bouroundouk Kale, the watch-tower on
the height between the Irganai defile and Shoura, with
its
handful of men, was by some strange oversight completely

forgotten
Yet these two points commanded the only
between Shourd and Avaria, and, once
available routes
occupied, Passek's force and the garrisons
and
would be completely
Ziriani
isolated.
In the middle of October Shamil

that every
that
man who
possessed a cow and pair of bullocks
should
and
plain
time Keebeet
valley of the Te"rek, but at the
Mahoma and
Thus
nonplussed.
danger was
left
all
Tilitl
and Karata respec-
points were threatened, and
Finally,
same
Hadji Mourad were ordered to
assemble their commandoes at

tively.
also provide himself
This seemed to point to an invasion of the
with a horse.
Koumuik
Dileem gave orders
at
but the very poor
is, all
Balakhani
at
Gourko was
he came to the conclusion that the
greatest in the north,
and on the 22nd October
Shoura, and by well- concerted movements with Freitag,
commanding
side,
meant
the Left Flank, rendered the invasion on that
if really
to
contemplated,
carry
without too great a

success in drawing
risk,
but was quite
Probably Shamil
could
be done
satisfied
with his
it
Gourko away from Shoura, and thereby
ensuring the capture
Khounzakh.
abortive.
provided that
out,
it
of
Gherghebil,
Acting on interior
lines
not strong enough to guard himself at
and eventually of
against
an enemy
all points,
2 a
he was
370
sure of being able to strike with success somewhere
and,
once more, his strategy was fully justified by the event.
On
the 30th October Gourko, satisfied that the danger to
the north was averted, returned to Shoura, but on the

learnt
invested by Keebeet
Gherghe'bil had been
that
Mahoma two
diately available forces
to the rescue
gathered his imme-
He
days previously.
some 1600 bayonets
and marched
when
below him at
in sight of
but on the 6th November,
the beleaguered
fort,
which
lay
way
the bottom
of a vast mountain, after reconnoitring the position and
holding a council of war, he decided that the task was

impossible, and with a heavy heart retired to Shoura, aban-
doning the garrison to the

8th, after a
taken
rest
bitterest
most heroic
prisoners
fate
which overtook
resistance.
moment was when,
Many were
a worse fate
often
it
on the
killed, the
still;
but the
after seeing the flash of their
comrades' bayonets on the mountain top above them, and
nursing for one short hour the hope of
safety,
no help came,
and the exulting shouts of their savage foes told them that
they were abandoned. Yet they fought on to the end with
the courage of despair. 1
The day
that Gherghebil
fell,
Gourko
sent orders to
Passek to evacuate Khounzakh, but the message
only
reached him on the 11th, and compliance was for the

time impossible, Tanous and Irganai being occupied in
force
by the enemy.
On
the 16th, however, finding that
Hadji Mourad had gone to join Shamil, he hastily made

his preparations in the greatest secrecy, executed a brilliant
retreat
his
1
through the dangerous Balakhani
many
defile,
with
all
sick and wounded, and, picking up the garrison,
" Of the brave garrison only two officers and a few soldiers remained
Gourko to Neidhart, 12th November 1843 Akti, ix. p. 784 ; and see
alive."
narrative of the defence, p. 786.

reached Ziriani
not the
opposite or right
Russian
bank of the river on the
He was
unmolested.
aoul, but the
fort
371
on the
17th, almost
immediately surrounded, however
Bouroundouk Kale was occupied the same day, and for a

whole month Passek stood a siege which became legendary
in the army of the Caucasus, for the privations endured.
1
Meantime, on the 9th November, the enemy had crossed

the Soulak and invaded the Shamkhal's territories, destroy-
ing a guard of fifteen
men on
the seashore near Tarkou,
simultaneously making an appearance in the neighbourhood
of Shoura
Next day the small garrison
itself.
retired to the capital, without orders
which saved
it
from certain destruction
unjustly to lack of courage
On
an
the
in
at
Ghimree
act of prudence
but was imputed
commanding
officer.
the 11th Shamil in person appeared at Kazaneeshtchi,
sixteen versts from Shourd, and, taking possession of the

villages
The
on
all
sides,
blockaded Gourko in his
capital.
eight days' siege of Neezovoe had then already begun,
and Fort Evghenievskoe was surrounded by the enemy;

so that on the 17th, when the Khounzakh force was
1
The
siege
still lives
in a soldiers' song, said to have been
Passek himself, of which the following

"
is
an extract
When the cattle, eaten,

Left us not a steak,
Straight we took to horseflesh
Boil, roast, or bake ;
Served for salt gunpowder
Not a grain was left
;
Stuffed with hay for baccy
Pipes with fingers deft.

When from off our shoulders
Fell our coats in rags,
Prompt, we requisitioned
Commissariat bags
Basten mats for blankets,
Sleeping gear supplied
;
And for
shoes the horses
Gave us up
their hide."
composed by
372
hemmed
in at Ziriani,
every Russian in arms in northern
Daghestan was shut up within the entrenchments
at
one
or other of these four places.
The
position
was indeed
men were manfully
holding out against 6000
Passek's larger force
his
at Ziriani
was hampered by many sick and
wounded, who would have

less
At Neezovde 346
serious.
to be
abandoned
enemy if he attempted the desperate

way out and forcing the Irganai defile
to a merci-
feat of cutting
Shoura could
defy assaults for some time to come, but could not hope
In a word, without outside help
to hold out indefinitely.
further disasters were inevitable, involving the loss of all
northern Daghestan
for from
two
quarters,
yet outside help could only be looked
and doubtfully from them
Left Flank, where, fortunately, Freitag was in
from
the
command
from Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff in southern Daghestan.
or
Urgent messages were sent

dismissed
Samour
his
troops
to
the latter had
to both; but
their
winter quarters
on
the
arduous campaign for the

Khounzakh,
and by the time that
relief of Klugenau at
he had collected them again and received necessary reinto recruit after their
forcements
deep snow had fallen on
the
intervening
mountains, so that to reach Shoura he would be constrained
go round by Derbend.
to
The only hope was
in
Freitag,
whose
barely adequate to contain the Tchetchens

recruits
forces were
but the year's
were due, and some reinforcements were on the

Pending their arrival he made a
way from Kabarda.

dash for the
plished
relief of
on the 19th November
which the enemy

1
Neezovde, a feat brilliantly accom-
vii.,
Akti,
cavalry fight
in
The Koumuik
Neidhardt to Tchernisheff
See Freitag's report, dated 23rd November 1843, in Rousskaya Starind,
:
after a
were completely routed. 2
June
1873.
ix. p. 792.

meantime was
plain
left
exposed
373
but before the enemy
had realised their opportunity, Freitag was back at KaziYourt with the rescued garrison and such stores as he
could carry,
destroyed.
the
with the
rest,
half-ruined
being
fort,
now
work to organise a force sufficiently

strong for the relief of Gourko at Shoura, and on December
14th entered that place at the head of six and a half
Freitag
set to
battalions, besides
1350 recruits and 1400 Cossacks, with
eighteen guns, and next day marched out to Kazaneeshtchi,
where he gave Shamil a sound drubbing. 2
Gourko
Ziriani,
to set out at last on the
This enabled
16th to the relief of
and on the following day he met Passek's van in
the middle of the Irganai
defile,
promptitude having prepared to

of Freitag's arrival.
Ziriani
that officer with his usual
start the
was
moment he heard
safely evacuated
and
the starving garrison reached Shoura on the 19th, fighting

a rearguard action at Bouroundouk Kale with the enemy,
who had pursued them
in
hot haste up the
finding that Passek had after all given
Shamil now
" peace on
little
them the
on
slip.
retired to Avaria, the local gatherings dispersed,
and Gourko and Freitag

respective
defile
headquarters.
earth " but
left
Shoura on the 22nd for their
Christmas Day,
a cessation of
1843, saw not
hostilities,
though
indeed in northern Daghestan of " goodwill amongst
men."
The Eussian
swollen to 92
places
officers
losses
since
the
27th August had
and 2528 men, besides 12
fortified
and 27 guns.
replace Neezovoe the fort, now the town, of Petrovsk was built the
following year on the seashore, three versts away. The natives christened it
Andji Kala, " Flour Fort," as the flour for the use of the Russian army was
1
To
mostly landed there.

2 "
An eye-witness's story," in the number already cited of Rousskaya Starind,
that valuable storehouse of historical information.
3
Passek's relation Akti, ix. pp. 798-805.
:
374
was indeed a year of disaster to Bussia, of unexampled success for Shamil, clouded only by the threatened
It
defection of the lowland
Tchetchens and the death of
Akhverdi Mahoma,
his favourite lieutenant,
of Little
nai'b
Tchetchnia, a leader only less
famous than Hadji Mourad,
and unlike him ever loyal.

At the head of a force
numbering some thousands Akhverdi had marched against
the Khevsour stronghold on the upper waters of
Shatil,
The place was
the Tchanti Argoun.
valiantly defended,
and on the third day of the siege the Avar leader fell
mortally wounded.
The Murids retired, taking with them
two
prisoners,
sacrificed
As
whom
one of
The
escaped.
other was
on Akhverdi Mahoma's grave. 1
to the Tchetchens, Shamil's attention being almost
entirely absorbed
those of
by his victorious campaign in Daghestan,
and plains were
the foot-hills
left
to
protect
themselves as best they could, with the result that they

suffered
partisan
more than usual from the devastating
Reduced
warfare.
despair,
to
effects of
they determined
ask from Shamil either adequate protection or permis-
to
sion to
But the
make
their peace with the Russian
difficulty
approach the
was
dreaded
to find
Imam
Government.
any one daring enough to

with a proposal
so
likely
to involve the death or, at least, mutilation of the bearer.
Finally,
when no one
for
such an errand,
by
lot,
it
could be found willing to volunteer
was decided
and the mission
fell
to
to choose four deputies
some men of the aoul
Gounoi, who, true to the character of their race, accepted

the decree of fate without a
murmur
rather than incur
The Khevsours were rewarded by the Russian Government with several

George's Crosses and medals, 300 quarters of wheat, five poods of gunpowder, and ten poods of lead. The aoul was ordered to be surrounded by a
strong wall, on which was placed a suitable inscription.
1
St.
them
perilous journey the Tchetchens, knowing the
gold, supplied them with a considerable sum
But
the charge of cowardice.
on their
power of
375
of money.
before despatching
Shamil, of course, was not to be bought
the mere suggestion of a bribe would be fatal to their

hopes.
But others
less rigid in their ideas of honour,
who
be found
least a
for a solid
With
set out for Dargo,
at
their trust
renowned
self to
consideration would secure at
the
in
latter
of their leader
suggestion
Tepi,
to
put
woman
and known
Shamil's mother, a venerable old
for her piety
and goodness of heart,
and respect of her
son.
Arrived
Imam's residence, Tepi accordingly addressed himone of his friends, Khasim Moulla, who stood
greetings
had
been
cautiously hinted
exchanged,
at the
When,
indignation
his friend
the moulla time to
accident, let fall a
in
he was met
that
would have
moulla's eyes glistened
by the
fortified
Giving
reserve.
cool down, he, as
bag out of which there
or so of glittering gold pieces.
deputy
visit,
dismayed him had he not been
knowledge of a weighty argument
after the first
Tchetchen
the
object of his
with a show of virtuous
The
view the
and talking over matters by the way
high in favour with the khanoum.
utterly
be
and mediators might
this line of action in
to enjoy the devoted love

at the
to
hearing for the petition and for the deputies a
safe return.
agreed,
known
his entourage were
in
The
if
by
rolled a score
effect
was magical.
he stooped down and picked
up a handful of the coins, and with a pleasant smile

and altered voice asked his friend how he came to have
Tepi, encouraged by this
so much wealth with him.
change in the moulla's demeanour, told him frankly all
his hopes, and, to
make a
long story short, succeeded in
securing his intervention with the khanoum,
who
in turn
376
undertook to speak to her son in favour of the Tchetchen

petition.
The
consideration was a present of some two
thousand roubles.
That very evening the old lady paid a

and
after a long interview in private
visit to
Shamil,
came back, her eyes
What had passed between mother and

guessed.
What Shamil did in the matter
red with weeping.
son can only be

is
related as follows
Knowing
well that the death or mutilation of the four
deputies, so far from overawing the Tchetchens,

all
them
probability throw
consummation of
all
others
would
into the arms of Russia
most
to be dreaded
in
the
he made
public the desire of the Tchetchens, and announced his

intention of retiring to fast and pray until such time as the
Prophet himself should condescend to make

will in the matter.
known
his
Accordingly he shut himself up in the
command, the Murids and

inhabitants of Dargo collected that they might join their
prayers to his.
Three days and nights the door remained
closed, and the crowd outside, worn out by prayer and
fasting, and worked to the highest pitch of religious fervour,
mosque, round which,
at
his
Imam.
in vain awaited the reappearance of their
a movement was heard inside the building

expectation ran through the people
eyes, as
the mosque, and at his

there,
wrapped
pale,
from much weeping.
by two of his Murids he
silently
in a white
his
shawl.
a quiver of
exhausted,
Accompanied
ascended the
command
last
the door slowly opened,
and Shamil appeared on the threshold,

with bloodshot
At
flat
roof of
mother was brought
Led by two moullas,
with slow, uncertain steps she approached her son,
some minutes gazed upon her without speaking.

raising his eyes to heaven, he exclaimed
who
for
Then,
"
Great Prophet
Muhammad
Sacred and unchange-

commands
able are thy
Let thy just sentence be
as an example to all true believers
377
fulfilled
"
!
Then, turning to the people, he explained that the

Tchetchens, unmindful of their oath, had determined to
submit to the Giaour, and had sent deputies who, not

daring to come directly to him, had addressed themselves
to his mother,
hoping to secure her intervention.
"Her insistence and my boundless devotion to her

inspired me with boldness to inquire the will of Muhammad,
the prophet of God. And lo here in your presence, aided
!
by your prayers, I have
after three
days of prayer and fast-
ing obtained the grace of his answer to
But
questioning.
a thunderbolt.
transmitted to
this
It is
me
my
presumptuous
me
answer has smitten
as
would
the will of Allah that whoever
first
the shameful intentions of the Tchetchen
people should receive one hundred severe blows, and that
person
is
Then
my own
at
mother
the Imam's
"
!
command
white shawl from the miserable old
the
Murids
woman,
tore the
seized her by
the hands, and began beating her with a plaited strap, while
a shudder of mingled horror and admiration went through
But at the fifth blow the victim fainted, and

Shamil, moved beyond endurance, stayed the hands of the
executioners and threw himself at his mother's feet. The
the crowd.
scene was dramatic to the highest degree, and

the spectators
may be
imagined.
With
its effect
tears
on
and groans
and Shamil,
they implored mercy for their benefactress
rising after a few moments without a trace of his former
emotion, once more raised his eyes to heaven, and in a
;
solemn voice exclaimed, "There is no God but the one

O, dwellers in
God, and Muhammad is His Prophet!
Paradise, ye
allowed
me
have heard
my
heartfelt
prayer,
and have
to take upon myself the remaining strokes that
378
were allotted
to
my unhappy
with joy as the priceless
And
of your loving kindness
gift
with a smile on his
These blows I accept
mother.
lips
he took
off his
"
!
red robe and
beshmet, 1 armed the two Murids with thick nogai whips,
and assuring them that he would
him who dared

silently,
to
trifle
kill
with his
with the will of the Prophet,
and without betraying the
least sign of suffering,
received the ninety-five remaining blows.

his outer garments
own hand
Then, resuming
and coming down from the roof of the
mosque, Shamil strode into the midst of the awestruck
crowd and asked, " Where are those
my
mother has suffered
villains
so shameful a
whom
through
punishment
"
The
trembling deputies were instantly dragged forth and hurled
no one doubting their fate. But to their amazement and that of the silent, gaping crowd, instead of the
swift and terrible doom all expected, Shamil addressed them
at his feet,
in the following words

reply to their foolish
"
Go back
demand
tell
to your people,
them
all
and in
you have seen
and heard."
To what extent
this
was a
carefully prepared piece of
what extent Shamil himself believed in his in2

it is impossible to say.
The Russians
look upon it as a comedy admirably conceived and no less
admirably acted. But though in the way it is told there
acting, to
spiration from above,
evidence of the story having been worked up with a
is
Under-robe.
" From enthusiasm to imposture the step is perilous and slippery the
demon o Socrates affords a memorable instance how a wise man may deceive
himself, how a good man may deceive others, how the conscience may slumber
2
in a
mixed state between
self-illusion
and voluntary fraud."
The character
of
Muhammad
serves to illustrate that of Shamil, and any interest inspired

by the latter will be enhanced by a re-perusal of Gibbon's famous fiftieth
chapter. Even the epileptic fits stigmatised by the historian as " an absurd
calumny of the Greeks " were paralleled by a mysterious sickness that overtook
Shamil at critical moments of his career.

view to
effect,
teristic of
that one
the central incident
is
379
so eminently charac-
the mingled astuteness and fanaticism of Shamil
may
well believe
it,
and undoubtedly the scene
thus described was well calculated to inspire a superstitious

people with a belief in the sanctity of their leader's person
and the Divine approval of their cause. Nor must we forget

that he had already submitted to a public scourging, after
inflicting the same punishment on Kazi Moulla, and that
Hamzad, his predecessor, had sentenced himself to imprisonment and flogging.
Read by the light

pathos in the Emperor
of after events, there

Nicholas's orders to his
is
a note of
commander-
in-chief in the Caucasus, General Neidhardt, at the end of
His proud
had been deeply mortified by the

events of the preceding months, and in his palace in St.
1843.
spirit
Petersburg he seems to have been quite unable to measure

the
difficulties
with which his generals had to contend.
him was
Shamil
to
" defeat
and
more than a brigand on a large

scale, and his success the more exasperating.
In a rescript
to Neidhardt * he ordered him to enter the mountains and
little
scatter all Shamil's hordes, destroy all his mili-
most important
tary institutions, take possession of all the
points in the mountains,
and
the retention of
fortify those
which may seem necessary." For this purpose he ordered

the army of the Caucasus to be reinforced immediately by
26 battalions, including sappers, 4 regiments of Cossacks,
and 40 guns from Russia besides filling up the ranks

already on the spot by 22,000 time - expired men and
properly-drilled recruits.
War
in
"As
to
your plan of action, the
Minister will give you full instructions
any way cramping you,

1
explain
will
Dated 18th December 1843, No. 130
my
these,
without
views of the
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
vii.
158.
380
position and the forces I assign for the attainment of the

to accept these views
you
It will be for
desired end.
wholly
but remembering always that (1) from such

means I expect corresponding results (2) the
operations must be decisive and straight to the point, with
or
in
part,
gigantic
no diversion to any
side issues
(3) in
no case have I any
now
intention of leaving the reinforcements
you
in the
entrusted to
Caucasus beyond the month of December 1844."
The Emperor had,

of setting the
in 1832, pointed out the advantage
neighbouring
tribes
Tchetchens by promising them

take, for this, he thought,
would
all
on
the
recalcitrant
the spoil they might
establish a rooted hatred
between them, and prevent a combination against Russia.
On
the same principle, divide
General
et
Neidhardt's attention to political
essence of which
lies
now
called
means,
" the
impera, 1 he
in attracting to our side, regardless
of expense, some of Shamil's supporters, particularly his
former teacher (and father-in-law), Jamalu'd-din, the Kadis

of
Akousha and Tsoudakhar, and Keebeet Mahoma of
Tilitl,
and
also in
amongst the
sowing dissensions and disagreements
rest of those nearest to the
Imam, and,
finally,
in calming and encouraging the submitted and wavering

tribes."
The
negotiations with the leaders were entrusted
to Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff; the mountaineers in general,
his Majesty thought,
would be
impressed by the
sufficiently
appearance in Daghestan and Tchetchnia of armies more
numerous than they had ever seen before but to heighten

this impression proclamations were to be distributed, to
;
that nothing whatever
the
effect
the
religion,
property,
only " the punishment
or
customs
was intended against

of the
of Shamil and
of that deceiver."
1
Kavkaxsky Sbornik, xv. 541.
natives,
of the
but
adherents
381
Shamil's success in 1843
scene of his military

districts
had not been confined to the

operations.
Kaitago and Tabassaran,
occupying the rugged declivities facing the Caspian,
revolted.
Southward the anti-Russian movement embraced

the Kazi-Koumoukhs, spread across the main chain to the
Djaro communities, and disturbed the neighbouring Mussul-
man
provinces.
To the north even the loyal and peaceable
Koumuiks became restless, and warlike Kabarda, west of
Vladikavkaz, showed signs of disaffection.
To cope with
this state of affairs, to recover the lost
and to restore Russia's prestige and authority

throughout the Caucasus, demanded not only all the mateterritory,
rial forces
so freely granted
prompt and
energetic, a plan of
conceived, but ably conducted.
amongst
by the Emperor, but action
his subordinates
campaign not only capably

General Neidhardt counted
many brave and
skilful officers
Freitag, Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff, Klugenau, Passek,
Yev-
dokeemoff, and others but the commander-in-chief himself

was hardly equal to the occasion, and he was hampered as
usual by interference from above.
cratic,
still
Nicholas, truly auto-
thought that to command was to be obeyed,
nor could his vanity admit any doubt as to his own knowledge and wisdom.
He
assigned twelve months for a task
was to take more than that number of years, and

pressed upon his representative operations impossible at
Thus the valley of the Andee
that time to carry out.
Koisou was to be occupied in the summer of 1844, a feat
that
quite visionary then, and accomplished only fifteen years
when fighting had all but ceased.

The idea of appealing to the natives by proclamation
later
proved equally
death to
all
futile, for
who took
Shamil countered
it
by threatening
part in meetings of any kind un-
authorised by himself or his naibs, and proclamations none
382
dared discuss could have no serious effect even

distributed, of which, there
was
little
widely
chance.
According to the plan of operations

the
if
finally decided on,
half of 1844 was to be devoted to offensive move-
first
ments on a large
scale, covering all the theatres of the war,
the remaining six months to the construction of forts and

fortresses
wherever necessary for the safeguarding both of
the territories already in Russian possession and of those
new
acquisitions to
forward.
from
St.
To
which the Emperor so confidently looked
this plan, so
peremptory were the instructions
Petersburg, General Neidhardt and his subordinates
adhered as far as possible, even when a departure from
promised better results
but during the
first
it
few months of
the year the Russians, perforce, kept the defensive, the

fighting being confined to the Caspian littoral.
The Murid
hordes for a time occupied even the coast-line between
Derbend and Tarkou, but eventually were driven back

the mountains by Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff,
who by
to
the
17th April had reached Kazi-Koumoukh, and with 6000
men
routed, four days later at Marghee, a hostile force
estimated at 20,000.
insignificant,
Koumoukh
but
The
the
losses
result
on either side were quite
was
important,
for
Kazi-
quieted down, and the Russians were relieved
of anxiety in that quarter.
The summer campaign
in
Daghestan opened on 2nd June, and the following day

Passek, with only 1400 men,
won
a brilliant victory over
the enemy, 27,000 strong, at Ghillee, leading a desperate
own hand two of the

was to save the Shamkhalate and
attack in person, and killing with his
Murids. 1
The
result
Mekhtoulee from
1
men
ruin, restore
His losses were 2 officers and 39

ix. p. 834.
and 141 men wounded. The enemy were said to have
Passek's full report, Akti,

killed, 8 officers
lost 750.
Russian prestige, and bring

back the Akoushintsi
Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff was
engagement
(11th
in the
June)
co-operated
stroyed,
the
On
to their allegiance.
again
388
the 9th June
victorious
an
in
Upper Samour district. A little later

Daghestan and Tchetchnia columns
successfully
against Tchirke'i, which was de-
and in July the Daghestan and Samour columns
Akoushl But the

Karadagh bridge over the Avar Koisou, by which it was
intended to invade Avaria, was so strongly defended that
General Liiders, who was in command, did not venture
to attack, and in September an attempt made by Argousimilarly united to defeat Shamil in
Keebeet Mahoma's
teensky-Dolgoroukoff on
stronghold,
failed.
In Tchetchnia, as elsewhere, there was a
good deal of desultory warfare, in which the Russians had
somewhat the advantage in actual fighting, but there were
Tilitl,
no encounters of
serious importance,
his authority for the time being
and Shamil enhanced
by one of those bloody
deeds that eventually contributed to undermine

trusty friend Shouaib
was
killed at the aoul of Tsonteree
as the result of a blood-feud.
Andee
for
Shamil sent 200 men of
to take prisoners several of the principal inhabitants
This was quite
not having prevented the murder.
contrary to
the Adat (customary law),
repelled the Murids by force of arms.
down on
render,
arms
His
it.
and the
villagers
Shamil then swooped
the hapless aoul, persuaded the people to sur-
and massacred every
living soul
to the oldest inhabitant,
from the infant in
one hundred families in
But the event of the year was the
all.
defection of Daniel,
Sultan of Elisou, an influential native ruler, and a majorgeneral in the Russian service, who, though promptly beaten
out of his capital,
made
his escape to the mountains,
Frei tag's report, Akti,
ix. p. 881.
and
384
many
secured to Shamil for
whole
districts in south
years to
come the
loyalty of
Daghestan. 1
Daniel had for
many years been a faithful vassal of

now joined forces with Shamil, it was only
Russia, and if he
that General Neidhardt drove
him
to
Not content
it.
to let
well alone, he began by limiting the sultan's jurisdiction,
and then sent an emissary
to his capital with a
view to
finding some pretext for abolishing his authority altogether
a very
gross instance of Russian injustice
and
folly.
Against this the Russians could put only the
long
delayed building of the fortress on the Argoun, christened,
by order of the Emperor, Vozdveezhenskoe, 8 the improve-
ment of communications between Daghestan and Transcaucasia, and the pacification of Akousha and Kazi-
Koumoukh.
Beyond this,
at the close of 1844,
no permanent results
of any importance had been attained in spite of the colossal

efforts
made, so that the various campaigns undertaken
must, in spite of successes in the
whole as
failures.
The
be counted on the
field,
reverses of the previous year
neither been avenged nor
made good
had
Shamil's position
and prestige remained unshaken.

1
Only a few months previously General Gol6vine had written to GrabM,
" Daniel Sultan is one of the Russian Government's most devoted adherents"
:
Akti,
2
ix. p. 378.
Kavkastsky SborniJc,
vii. p.
618.
"Elevation" (of the Cross), from the fact that an ancient cross was
found on the site of the fortress, proving that at some long-forgotten epoch
Christians had dwelt there. Tchernishefl' to Neidhardt, 1st October 1844
3
Akti,
ix. p.
752.
Prince Vorontsoff
CHAPTER XXIV
1845
V6rontsoff
The Dargo expeditionDisastrous result Freitag

to the rescue once more
The Emperor
meagre
Nicholas,
though disappointed with the
results obtained in
his opinion as to
1844, saw no reason to alter
what might, and should, be done with
the means he had placed at the disposal of his generals

in the Caucasus.
At
the end of that year he called on
General Neidhardt to prepare a plan of campaign for
own hand
what was proposed,
and declaring that (1) Shamil's hordes must be routed if
possible (2) the expedition must penetrate to the centre of
1845, on receipt of which he wrote with his
memorandum approving
in general
his dominions;
and
(3) establish
Russian authority there.
Andee as the possible objective, and

decided that the Samour division, instead of co-operating,
as suggested, in the main movement, should confine itself
Further, he mentioned
to an attack
on one of the
hostile communities in southern
Daghestan, with the object of being in a position

to
build a fort at
Ghergh^bil.
emphatically that the 5th
later
on
The Emperor repeated
Army Corps, which
did not belong
to the Caucasus, could not be allowed to remain there for
more than another twelve months, and declared that only

the attainment of the results he had specified could justify
its
presence in the
Caucasus
at all.
He
held that the
Daghestan and Tchetchnia columns should move simultaneously on Andee, and that, having taken and destroyed
"
385
2B
386
" that nest," the latter force should be employed in
pleting the fort at Vozdveezhenskoe and,
new one
time allowed,
if
some other point on the same

the former in fortifying Andee, and perhaps a
building a
parallel
com-
at
between that place and the Soulak. 1

To ensure the success of these plans General Neidhardt
line of posts
was replaced by Count V6rontsoff, a

and an
in the Napoleonic war,
of the word,
command
who was not

the
in
aristocrat in the best sense
only entrusted with the chief
but
field,
commander
brilliant
appointed
Viceroy
the
of
Caucasus.
Vorontsoff on his arrival in that country found that
the proposed expedition was looked on with
little
favour
Prince Argouteensky-
by those most competent to judge.
Dolgoroukoff and General Freitag, in particular, opposed
and
their opinion, as that of experienced
successful commanders,
tion
was
entitled to
it
and uniformly
grave considera-
but the new commander-in-chief, fresh from the
council chamber in St. Petersburg,
and pledged
to
carry
out the Emperor's wishes, overruled their objections, as
indeed they had already been overruled by his predecessor.
But by the time that the expeditionary

gathered together,
it is
some doubt
success.
"
If,
On
into his
the 25th
mind
May he
and conditions had
in-
as to the prospects of
wrote to the
War
Minister
even, the orders I received to take the offensive this
year, before
advanced
resuming the construction of the Tchetchen
line,
were at variance with
they are with those of

carry
had been
evident that personal acquaintance
with the local military authorities

stilled
forces
all
my own
opinion, as
the local generals, I should
them out with the same
zeal
but I
tell
i Kavlcazsky Sbornik, vi. pp. 235-39, where the Emperor's

given word for word as written by his own hand.
still
every one
memorandum
is

here frankly that
is
it
not
and that
so,
it
387
me
seems to
unwise to avoid meeting Shamil and doing him harm

possible,
God
If
which would help us more than anything

is
not pleased to bless us with success
we
nevertheless have done our duty,
and we can then
somewhat
turn,
system which will bear
else.
we
shall
shall not be to blame,
later, to
the methodical
though of course not so
fruit,
When
quickly as a victory over Shamil himself."
leader of an expedition talks of possible failure, and

his chief subordinates anticipate
are already imperilled
us,
not for the
first
if
and the
time, that
the
all
the chances of success
it,
reflection is forced
the
upon
subjugation of the
Caucasus was more often hindered than helped by the

personal interference of the Autocrat in his distant capital.
On
the 30th
May
doubt has already deepened into
couragement, and V6rontsoff writes
much
all I
"I
dis-
dare not hope
success from our enterprise, but I will do, of course,
can to carry out the Emperor's desire and justify his
confidence."
the
Next day he
set out
from Vnezapnaya with
Tchetchnia column, consisting of
infantry, 2
12
battalions
of
companies of sappers, 13 sotnias of Cossacks,
1
over 1000 native militia, and 28 guns;
and on the 3rd

June was joined at Ghertme' by the Daghestan column,
numbering 9 battalions, 2 companies of sappers, 2 of sharpThe total force
shooters, 3 sotnias of cavalry, and 18 guns.
was probably not
less
than 18,000 strong. 2
Shamil, as usual, based his strategy on a complete and

masterly appreciation of
himself or his foe.
all
the conditions affecting either
He knew
that,
as
Argouteensky had
pointed out, the Russians, in present circumstances, could

1
Irregular cavalry.
Vorontsoff's preliminary reports
to
the
War
Minister,
Tchernisheff, are to be found in Akti, x. pp. 364-76, 380, 388

tive, ibid,, pp. 397-412.
now Prince
his full narra-
388
penetrate the mountains but could not maintain themselves

there.
He knew
also that
he had no earthly chance of
beating such an army as this in the open, nor even of
on the outward march, while men

and horses were fresh, munitions plentiful, and supplies
harassing
seriously
it
adequate.
His opportunity would come
Nature, his great

vaders,
ally,
worn with
toil,
on when
later
had done her work, and the
weak from
in-
privation, uninspirited
by successes in the field, would have to face the homeward

march over the barren mountains of Daghestan or through
Then indeed he would let loose

mobile hordes, break down the roads in front
the forests of Itchkena.
on them his
of them, seize every opportunity of cutting off front or rear

guard, of throwing the centre with
and lengthy
men no
line of
rest
wounded
its
into confusion,
by day or by night.
succeed in fighting their
weary baggage train
way back
At
and give the
best they
to their base
would
on the
Soul&k or Soundja, but he would take care that
it
be in such plight as would lower them in their
own
and in the eyes of every native from the Caspian

Black Sea, from the Tdrek
eyes
to the
Meanthem on, and
to the Persian frontier.
time he would show just enough force to lure

if,
should
with the help of Allah and His Prophet, he succeeded in
enticing
them
to his forest stronghold, Dargo, there
was
a chance, at least, of his serving V6rontsoff as Grabbe had
been served in 1842.
The Russian columns having united on the 3rd June,

resumed
their
march the same
day,
and crossing the Teren-
goul gully, which had defied an expedition sent against
it
the previous year, took possession of Old Bourtounai, with-
who had
hoped that Shamil would here give them a chance of
On the 5th a
beginning the campaign with a victory.
out opposition, to the disappointment of those

reconnaissance in force
of
Kirk Pass (8070
the
389
feet),
between Salatau and Goumbet, developed into a forward
movement
The
of the whole army.
pass was undefended,
and the Russian advance guard under Passek streamed
down
the other side to the abandoned fort Oudatchnaya,
built
by Grabbe on his way to Argouani and Akhoulgo in
1839, and stormed the opposite height, Antchimeer (7396

feet), in
the face of a half-hearted opposition from a force
enemy estimated
of the
at 3000, with 1 gun. 1
Vdrontsoff
described this affair in his report as one of the most brilliant
he had ever witnessed, and

feat
to
much
attack so
inferior
strong
it
was undoubtedly a daring
a position in the face
numbers (Passek had 6
of not
battalions, besides
cavalry and artillery), but as the Russian loss in these
circumstances was only 17 wounded,
enemy made no
strong defence.
it
is
Now came
of the campaign, resulting in the
first
evident that the

the
first
serious loss.
blunder
On
the
morning of the 6th Passek, with characteristic impetuosity,

continued his forward movement, without waiting for inZounou-Meer, 2 15 versts (10 miles) farther
Here he was for some time practically isolated; the
structions, to the
on.
weather changed suddenly from summer heat to the severest

cold, and for five days the unhappy troops, in wind, frost,
and snow, and without provisions, suffered terribly. No
less than 450 were frost-bitten, and 500 horses died.
Leaving large forces to guard his communications, VdrontPassek on the 11th, and on the 12th took up
soff joined
ground near the aoul of
Tilitl in sight
of the
Andee
gates
or gap, a strong position which, according to spies, Shamil

Prince Levan Melikoff led the attack at the head of his Georgian volunCount Benckendorff also greatly distinguished himself. He was twice
wounded during the expedition, of which he has left an account, Souvenir
intime d'une Oampagne au Caucase pendant Vit'e de I'anne'e 1845, Paris, 1858; a
1
teers.
rare work.
2
Meer
in
Avar = mountain.
390
meant
Next day orders were given
to defend to the last.
for the assault, but again the invaders were disappointed.
The
gates were undefended, though walled up and flanked
Shamil had prepared
by breastworks.
still
to
hold them
when
uncertain what force would be brought against him,
but seeing
how
much too wise

to Andee and
enemy were
strong the
to court certain failure.
He
retired, set fire
the surrounding aouls, and forced
inhabitants to join him.
On
he was
in artillery,
all
the
the 14th the Russians took
possession of the ruins of Gagatl and Andee, driving out a
small
number of mountaineers, probably engaged
ing to save their

there
own
was no attempt
in attempt-
property or loot that of others, as
to defend either of these aouls
but
beyond Andee, on the terraced slope of the mountain called

had taken his stand with some 6000 men and
Aval, Shamil
3
guns,
hoping
harass the enemy
to
Bariatinsky, with 2
down
below, and
companies of the Kabarda regiment
and the Georgian and other native
troops, following
the fugitives from the aouls with too great eagerness,
up
was
some danger. Reinforcements,

the mountain was taken, and Shamil
for a time in a position of
however, arrived,
retired,
So
saving his guns. 1

far
the
expedition
nothing very remarkable
had been successful, though

It had
had been achieved.
had taken Andee, but it

had not beaten Shamil, for the good reason that Shamil
had given it no opportunity to do so and it was already
penetrated
the
mountains,
it
1
The Emperor, overjoyed at the success so far attained, wrote " God has
crowned you and your heroic troops with deserved success, and shown once
more that nothing can stop the Russians the Orthodox Russians when with
firm reliance on His help they go where the Tsar bids them
what further
consequences the present success may bring I cannot foresee, but I doubt not
its effect will live long in the mountains, and shake the hitherto invincible
:
belief in Shamil's power."

p. 311.
Nicholas
to V6rontsofF,
9th July 1845
Akti,
391
evident to V<5rontsoff that there could be no question of

establishing Russian authority so far
On
the 17th he wrote: "It
to
establish
ourselves
is
firmly
Tchirkei or Vnezapnaya that
away from
evident that
Andee,
in
if
is
it
his base.
ever
we
are
not from
we can draw our
supplies,
a proceeding nearly impossible in summer, and quite out

of the question during the rest of the year."
and Freitag were right

without
disaster.
columns would return
at best the
accomplished any permanent result
having
would be well
Argouteensky
if
it
they returned without serious loss or
Already the
difficulty of provisioning the
army
was making itself felt, and during the first four days at
Andee the men were on very short rations, though more
than a third of the expeditionary corps had been left behind
on the lines of communication, and Prince B^boutoff, commander of the Daghestan column, had been specially
detailed
to
hurry forward the convoys.
It
would have
been better to recognise the force of circumstances and

retire
before matters grew worse
not to be wondered at that Vorontsoff,
10 miles away,
it is
with a
army of 10,000 men
brilliant
but with Dargo only
still
available for the
purpose, should have determined to attack Shamil in his

stronghold.
The word
brilliant is
used advisedly, for no
Russian force that had ever been seen in the Caucasus

could compare with this
goes to
war."
make up
Count
the "
in outward lustre, in
all
that
pomp and circumstance of glorious

name and fame had attracted
Vorontsoff's
round him a galaxy of
Moscow anxious
aristocrats
to serve
from
St.
Petersburg and
under so renowned a commander,
and take part with him in the anticipated defeat of Shamil

and final conquest of the Caucasus. His staff and suite
included Prince
Alexander
of
Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince
Wittgenstein, the Prince of Warsaw, and
many
a scion
392
his personal convoy, a band

Kurds in picturesque national costume. Then General
Liiders, commander of the 5th Army Corps, Klugenau,
Passek, and others had each a numerous staff, and to
distinguish their positions in the camp or field each general
had a pennon fastened to a lance the commander-in-chief,
red and white with a horse-tail tuft Liiders, red and black,
of illustrious Russian houses
of
Vladeemir;
like the ribbon of St.
general
on.
staff,
red
The number
cooks, &c.
was
of non-effectives
naturally large,
furniture, officers' stores,

all
The men
though
Caucasus
and so
body-servants, grooms,
and the amount of camp
sumpter horses, and tents out of
proportion to the fighting force
local ideas.
Gourko, chief of the
Passek, white with a silver cross
at least according to
of the permanent regiments of the
Mouravioff, V6rontsoffs successor, stig-
matised them as "luxurious" until they
won him
victories
and fame, because they no longer lived in zemliankas as in

Yermoloffs time
looked
with good-natured contempt on
the battalions from Eussia, and with contempt unqualified
on the pampered menials of the
The latter,
ways, and complete
staff officers.
with their smart uniforms, dandified
ignorance of Caucasian or any other warfare, were
little
to
and nothing more
the taste of the local
officers, soldiers
and, in turn,
sympathy, though they could not but
felt little
feel respect, for
men who, though
they spoke pure Russian
instead of beginning every sentence with " Ecoutez,
mon
made by the regimental tailor,

had, none the less, fought many a desperate action.
All this added nothing, we may well suppose, to
!
cher " and wore uniforms
the
chances of bringing the expedition to a successful
1
General Heimann's Becolleetions Kavhazsky Sbornik, iii. p. 276. Passek's
standard was embroidered by fair hands, "an emblem of love and hope":
Benokendorff, op. cit, p. 47.
:

When
issue.
it
came
battalions, needless
to
pinch
the
to
say,
it
was the
that bore the brunt
393
local
of the
fighting.
The
came
provision trains
and brought so
in slowly,
little that it was impossible to accumulate more than a

few days' rations, though Vorontsoff waited three weeks
Andee
in
for that
supplies, the
and nothing
army might
of the Sahara.
as well have
round.
The sun had done the
beings for miles
for the grass
rest,
direction of Botlikh,
sent
in
the
and bivouacked near the lake Ard-
jiam
the
destruction of a few
it
was
than the men.
off
18th a considerable force was
the
but
been in the middle
human
burnt up, leaving the horses worse
On
to getting local
Shamil knew his business, and had taken
or destroyed everything eatable by

1
As
else.
accomplished nothing but
returned, having
dozen
trout,
and was dubbed
in consequence " l'exp^dition de"truite."
On
rations
the 4th July, finding that he had but a few days'
some
say eight,
some
less
and
that
the next
convoy could not arrive before the 10th, so that he would

be no better off in this respect and would have wasted
another week, V6rontsoff
made arrangements
Dargo on the morning of the
6th,
of sending back part of his force

visions
when they
At 3 a.m. on
Count Vorontsoff
arrived
the
6th
to
to start for
with the intention

bring on the pro-
fateful decision.
native
in
attendance
stole his favourite charger
on
and galloped
warn Shamil that the Russians were coming. An

hour later the march began, and by nine o'clock the
off to
Baron Delvig, who has left a very interesting account of the whole expementions an incident illustrating the relations between the Murids
and the native " Peace Party." Riding out one morning, he found two shaven
heads with a Tartar inscription, " Thus are punished the adherents of the
Russian Government " Voyenny Sbornih, 1864.
1
dition,
394
whole of the troops had reached the edge of the
forest.
Here a few hours' halt was called while the men rested
and ate their dinner preparatory to the attack. The view
to the north
was one of absorbing
Hostile Tchetchnia lay at their
unbroken mass of undulating
hills,
Russian eyes.
one
stretching in
covered with dense
and intersected by deep and gloomy gorges,
forests
the plains beyond,

Te"rek ran
a mere
its
40 versts away, through which
streak
to
Dargo,
to
the
Beyond, in the blue distance,
silver thread.
beneath the horizon, was Russia, Holy
upon which many gazed
Russia,
road
interest to
feet,
now
only 4
The
for the last time.
or
miles
distant,
lay
along the crest of a steep wooded spur of the Retchel
nowhere very broad, and in places narrowed
ridge,
few
feet,
and consisting of a
series
of long descents with
Abattis of giant trunks with
intervening rises.
shorter
to
branches cunningly interlaced barred the way every 400
and the densely wooded ravines on
or 500 yards,
swarmed with hidden
side
Towards
p.m.
either
foes.
General Luders,
who had begged
permission for the Litovsky regiment to lead the attack

so
that
honour,
men
they might wipe
out
a recent stain on their
addressed them in a few stirring phrases.
brandished
their
muskets above
their
heads,
The
and
vowed they would prove that there were no more cowards

amongst them. The moment the advance was sounded,
headed by
their
own
officers
and many of the
staff
they
rushed forward and surmounted one after the other the

first
and
six barriers,
meeting with no very strong opposition,
suffering little loss.
Behind them came the sappers
A company of this regiment was ambushed by some fifty natives on the

17th June at the Andee gates. The men ran, leaving their captain to be
butchered.
1

to
clear the
way
The im-
the rest of the column.
advance just suited the tactics of the
petuosity of the
ever on
natives,
for
395
the look-out
to
enemy's
the
separate
column and endeavour to destroy it in detail. And thus

it happened
that when the commander-in-chief, riding
Liiders, followed by his staff
and Prince Alexander of Hesse, reached the narrow neck
between the second and third obstacles, he was met by
a heavy fire of musketry, and for a time was in imminent
quietly along with General
The van by
danger.
this time
was
as
many
to
a heavy
arrival
as forty officers were
fire.
and the
far ahead,
intervening space reoccupied by the enemy.
All stopped
crowded together, exposed
mountain gun was sent
and on
for,
turned sideways to sweep the wooded ravine on
the right flank whence the shots came thickest

the second discharge every
badly wounded
was
it
man
serving
manned
minutes the result was the same.
but after
was killed or
it
again,
and in a few
For a brief space of
time the gun was alone but for the dead and dying round
Then an ensign
ran forward an officer followed and came back unharmed
but the piece was not served. At this juncture General
Fok made his way to the gun and loaded it himself,
it;
no one dared
cross
to
the neck.
but before he could

soff
then
sent
fire it fell
some
mortally wounded.
Georgian
militia
Voront-
and dismounted
Cossacks into the wood, and in a few minutes " we were

as safe
on the road
as at
home."
Meantime the Kabardd battalion which had followed

the Litovsky men came up with them at the sixth
obstacle, and the latter then continued their victorious
onset
till
they reached
and saw Dargo
far
Here they halted
an elevated space of open ground
below them, about a mile
until Vorontsoff
arrived,
late
distant.
in the
396
evening, and ordered General Bieliavsky, in
command
of
the advanced guard, to take possession of the aoul, which
by that time was
At 11
in
flames,
fired
by Shamil himself.
the commander-in-chief reached Dargo and
p.m.
bivouacked for the night
but
it
was not
until the
ing of the 7th that the whole of the troops
The
1
were not
losses
general, 3
other
great,
officers,
morn-
came
in.
though greater than need be
and 32 men
killed, 9
officers
and 160 men wounded.

Shamil's capital was taken
so far, good.
But again
had given no opportunity of inflicting any serious
it was impossible to remain at Dargo, and the army
he
loss
had before
it
41 versts (27 miles) of forest, every yard
which would be vehemently disputed by a relentless

almost invisible foe.
If Grabbe in 1842 with the
same strength had suffered defeat and disaster in retreat-
of
yet
ing about half the distance to Gherzel aoul with only 2000
men
what might not happen
against him,
with 41 versts to go, and Shamil with

hand, bent on his destruction
The
all
to V6rontsoff
his hordes at
situation,
foreseen
by the veterans of Caucasian warfare, was in any case

one of very great danger
to
the mistakes that were about
be committed rendered disaster inevitable.
There were
it
provisions for five days,
still
would have been wisest
fast
as
possible,
Daghestan
to
push on
to Gherzel aoul as
sending orders to the commanders
to retire
on the Soulak.
keep to his plan and wait the
to
and undoubtedly
in
But Vorontsoff decided

arrival of the
expected
convoy.
Much
interest
was
excited,
meantime, by that part of
Dargo which had been inhabited by the Russian

1
Delvig,
deserters.
Voyenny Sltorrdh, p. 207.

A terrible memory connected with
of the thirty-three Russian officers and men confined in the
Dargo was that
397
The
walls were covered with idiotic inscriptions, such as

" guard-house of the King of Prussia," "tailor to the King
of Saxony," &c, and the feelings
imagined when
White
On
left
army may be
graceless children of the
at sunset these
Tsar, to the
the lofty
of the
number of 600, marched
to
and
bank of the Aksai playing the Eussian
fro
on
tattoo.
same height Shamil placed four guns, and, as their

fire caused considerable annoyance, an expedition was sent
against them on the morning of the 8th under General
this
Labeentseff.
The attack was
out gallantly, and
carried
seemingly with complete success.
The enemy disappeared,

and the Russians, watching from the camp below, applauded
their comrades and envied them their luck.
But when it
came to retiring, their joy was turned to grief. The way
lay through fields of maize, where
order or touch.
On
it
either side there
was
difficult to
keep
was broken, wooded
ground, and from behind each tree and stone " sprung up
at once the lurking foe."
dropped on
tattoo.
The moment when the column, which had
driven off the enemy, began to retire was, as

turning-point of the whole campaign.
tively,
the
to
morning and evening played the Eussian

"
all sides;
camp with a loss of 187 killed and

the enemy reoccupied their former position, and
column returned
wounded
Men
so gallantly
it
were, the
We felt this
instinc-
and an inexplicable depression pervaded the army.
Faces that a few minutes before had been cheerful became

neighbourhood in one dark prison pit after the disasters of 1843, nearlynaked, in filth and misery, with the barest pittance of food and water.
When it became known that the present expedition was preparing, Shamil
had them all massacred. Negotiations were in progress for their ransom,
but an intercepted letter told them of the coming expedition and bade them
be of good cheer. Shamil regarded this as an act of treachery, and in after
years said, "It was not I who killed them, but Prince Vorontsoff" Akti, xii.
p. 1420 (Bounovsky's Journal).
1
Heimann's Recollections, Kavkazsky Sbornik, iii. p. 317.
:
398
serious
and
sad.
It
was
,not the sight of nearly
200 killed
and wounded, we were most of us used to that kind of

thing, but the conviction that the sacrifice
The men of
was
in vain."
the Lioublin regiment lost their colonel,
Korneeloff, cousin of the hero of Sevast6pol, but bayoneted
who had
those
The Tousheens,
of the
him and hacked
killed
too, the bravest
who
Caucasus,
of the
a
contributed
heads.
off their
many
brave races
small body to
the
native contingent, kept up their time-honoured custom of
cutting off the right
hand of a
and in condemning the
slain or
wounded enemy, 2
cruelty habitually practised
by the
semi-savage warriors of Daghestan and Tchetchnia

only fair to remember that their Christian foemen,
were
it
is
who
also the invaders of their country, frequently stooped
to similar practices.
The
ceaseless
Orthodox
priests,
chanting of the funeral service by the
and
volley-firing
as
the
bodies were
lowered into their graves, deepened the general feeling of

depression, and told
Shamil the number of the killed
moreover, powder was already none too plentiful.
were given to bury the dead in
On
the evening of the 9th rockets sent
edge of the
forest,
Orders
silence.
up from the
where the troops had rested on the 6th,
told that the convoy
had
Obviously
arrived.
it
could not
reach Dargo unaided, and the unhappy enterprise
known
ever since as the " Biscuit Expedition " was organised.
Whether Vorontsoff himself
or
responsible for the arrangement

1
Heimann's Recollections, Kavkazsky
Shate, a celebrated Tousheen warrior,
Gourko
is
SborniJc,
or
who
else
was
not recorded, though

iii.
p. 209.
who accompanied Vrevskys Deedo
expedition in 1857, had no less than seventy of these ghastly trophies nailed
to his walls, and no Tousheen could obtain a bride who had not at least one
severed right hand to show.
The Tousheens were Christians, of Georgian
extraction.

we know
that Klugenau grumbled
at
it,
but the idea
struck some one that as the provisions were for

alike,
own
each should send half

share.
399
all
units
strength to bring in
its
Thus the column which was entrusted
to
its
Klugenau, with Passek in command of the advanced guard,

Victoroff of the rear, and amounted probably to some 4000
men, was about as heterogeneous a force

imagined, a fact that
came
augured
in itself
as could well
ill
for success if
be
it
which there could be little doubt.

Then Klugenau, who had all his life followed Souv6roff's
to close fighting, of
maxim, that " the head
doesn't wait for the tail,"
was not
perhaps the best selection for the business in hand, especially
with the
fiery
As
Passek in his van.
to Victoroff,
he was a veteran of Caucasian warfare, over sixty years

old, but enamoured of fighting.
The column
4
cover the
or
on the morning of the 10th to

miles of pathway already described,
started
5
along which every barrier, destroyed with so
much
toil
on
more strongly than

Passek with two battalions of
the Kabarda regiment, a company each of sappers and
the 6th, had meanwhile been
before,
rebuilt
and others added.
and two mountain guns, dashed on ahead,

and Klugenau went
The natural result followed. The centre became
sharpshooters,
storming one barrier after another,
with him.
separated from the van, the rear from the centre, and the
enemy swarmed
vantage,
in
from behind every tree trunk
beech-trees
shooters
even
from the
for, as in
Grabbers expedition, the giant
gave shelter to
numerous Tchetchen sharp-
branches overhead,
complete
between, firing from every point of
and, wherever confusion ensued, rushed in
it
with sword and hindjal.
The narrow
to
ridge
was the scene of confused and desperate fighting all the

long summer's day, and only at nightfall, with the help
400
of part of the vanguard sent back for the purpose, did the
remains of the column reach the open.
General Victoroff
and many officers and men had been killed, large numbers
wounded, two guns had been lost, and the body of General
Fok, which was being taken for transmission to Shoura,
torn from
The
was
to follow.
be better to
to
fight
and thrown down a ravine.

was now a deplorable one, but worse
Klugenau rightly thought that it would
its coffin
position
his
retire
through Daghestan, leaving V6rontsoff
way with
than risk for the third time the passage of
aoul, rather
that terrible ridge,
encumbered
supplies
and the wounded
enemy.
He
assent;
his
remaining forces to Gherzel
his
sent
word
as
he now was with the
faced,
too,
by a triumphant
to the chief to this effect, asking
but unfortunately the strain
on his
moral
courage was too great, or perhaps he gave way to the

fierce
his
eloquence of Passek.
mind
Be
this as
it
may, he changed
an ensign was found daring enough to carry
a second missive to V6rontsoff, telling him that the column
would
start
judge
how
situation
on
its
falsely
from the
return to
the
camp
at
commander-in-chief viewed the
fact that
he received the messenger
with joy, and promoted him on the
On
dawn, and we can
spot.
the morning of the 11th the convoy started.
cannon shots gave notice
Three
Dargo that it was
of smoke above the trees
to those at
movement, and soon the line

showed where it fought its way down the bloodstained
The enemy were in greater numbers than before
ridge.
the barriers had once more been renewed, and a heavy
in
had added greatly to the difficulties of the march.

Passek again commanded the advance guard, and fought
his way to the narrow neck already mentioned.
Here
rainfall
he found a breastwork of trees faced with the Russian
401
dead of the day before, stripped, mutilated, and piled

one on top of the other. There were no defenders behind
this
ghastly obstacle, but
breastworks on either
it
side,
was enfiladed from smaller

and until these were taken
no progress was possible. Men were falling thickly, and

already the column was in confusion.
Passek sent two
companies of the Lioublin regiment against the righthand breastwork under Valkhovsky, a young guardsman,
who
led
them
gallantly,
the obstacle, but

panies lost
and was the
dead the moment
fell
many men and
fell
back in
to
first
after.
disorder.
surmount
The comMeantime
Passek himself led the two remaining companies of the

same regiment against the left-hand work. What happened
is
variously related.
Certain
it
is
that Passek
was
killed,
and that at the moment no one was near him. Then it

became a sauve qui pent with the Lioublin men and the
militia, though individual officers and men displayed the
utmost bravery.*
The
sappers, meantime, thinking that the position
had
been won, went to work to clear a way through the main

barrier, and were set upon and cut to pieces.
They were
followed by the
all
straggling line,
regiments and of
" Biscuits " and
Somehow or
step
arms, encumbered with the fatal
other with Klugenau's help,
by
details of
an ever-increasing number of wounded.
who
led companies
any captain, they struggled along the
to the attack like
ridge
all
composed of
step,
fighting
all
the way,
handfuls, by threes, and twos, and ones.
in
groups,
The enemy's
in
fire
never ceased, and from time to time they dashed right into
the Kussian
alike.
The
line,
cutting
gallant
down wounded and unwounded
Kabarda battalion held together
x
Heimann's Recollections, Kwvkazsky Sbornik, iii. 325.
changes " Lioublin " to " Navagheen," ibid., vi. 339.
at
Another account
2 C
402
when ammunition gave out formed
the extreme rear, and

square,
ground would allow, and stood
as well as the
But help was
waiting for the final onslaught.
at hand.
Vdrontsoff had realised, though late, what was happening,
and had sent
off another battalion of this
plight of their comrades,
through
struggling mass
the
The Kabarda men,

forced their way
by other detachments.
rescue, followed
learning the
of
regiment to the
fugitives
and
fighters,
keeping the place of honour at the
relieved them, and,
got back to camp late at night with all their wounded,

when many had given them up for lost. An officer of
the regiment who was badly hurt on the way out has left
rear,
an interesting account of the whole expedition, and in-
we
cidentally
had
staff
get
glimpse of Klugenau,
fallen, sitting his charger, pale,
and looking in
commander
Then alas,
Don
in
Juan."
for "love
all
his
stern but calm,
his light grey dress, riddled
with
bullets,
him, " like the statue of
not one of which had touched

the
when
and hope"
Passek's
body with
bloodstained, peaceful face passes by, tied into a hollow
sheet of bark, and dragged along sledge-wise through the
mud and
it
blood.
Later, in one of the
was pushed over the edge of a
numerous
ravine,
remains of the bravest of the brave,
panics,
and the mortal
" whose
worth battalions," were never seen again.
name was
The narrator
was likewise hurled down

bank, but found and brought in to Dargo at
himself, in a similar contrivance,
a precipitous
night.
The
local battalions saved their
the others were
The
17
losses
officers,
1
2
W.
lost.
wounded, most of
of the
10th
and 537 men
and 11th were 2 generals,
killed,
32
officers
and 738 men
A. Heimann's Recollections in Kavkatssky Sbomik, vol.
Ibid., p. 321.
iii.
p. 322.

wounded
which
3 guns
all
Dargo.
this
were
lost
and of the provisions
for
was made, hardly any reached
sacrifice
V6rontsoff, with a force reduced to 5000 bayonets,
burdened with the care of over 1100 wounded, with

to cut his
still
little
and surrounded by a victorious enemy,
or nothing to eat,
had
403
way through
the 41 versts of forest
him from Gherzel aoul.

The task was all but a hopeless one, and he knew it.
Of itself the column could hardly win through by any
possibility.
As with Shourd in 1843, there was one
chance of salvation, and one only. Freitag was at Grozny,
and at a word would fly to the rescue. Five separate
messengers were sent speeding through the forest to warn
the commander of the Left Flank that his chief, in
that separated
desperate
was marching on Gherzel
straits,
total disaster could only
place with all the troops he could gather.
got through, there was
and that
aoul,
be averted by his hurrying to that
still
hope.
If the message
Otherwise, not a
man
1
of that once gallant array would reach the plain alive.
somewhat earlier
asking his opinion as to the proposed march on Gherzel
aoul, to which the commander of the Left Flank replied
had
V6rontsoff
on the
written
to
Freitag
5 th July
Amongst the Tchetchens it is already no secret that

your Excellency intends to come down to the plains from
"
Dargo.
'We
they say.
to
attack
'
have not yet begun to fight the Russians,'
we know where
And indeed they do know in the
Let them go where they
them.'
forests all
advantages are on their
stand well
how
"
my
will,
to
make
side,
and they under-
the most of them.
Your Excellency has given me permission
opinions.
to express
cannot justify such flattering confidence

1
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
vi. p.
343.
404
On
by being absolutely frank.

march you will meet in the forest such
better than
opposition
the
difficulties
probably, you do not anticipate.
as,
attempt to prove that the operation
is
downward
and such
I will not
well-nigh impossible
on the contrary, I feel sure that your Excellency will win

through but the losses will be enormous. You will find
;
know how
that the Tchetchens
to fight
when
necessary."
march
Freitag goes on to advise that formation on the

called " carrying the
forest fighting,
column
and continues
in a
box
as the best in
" I promised to be frank,
and frank I must be. Judging

from your Excellency's letter, you seem to expect important
results from the march through the forest to the plain.
me
you are being deceived. However successful your movements, they will have no influence
Allow
to say, simply,
From the fears I

on the subjugation of Tchetchnia.
have expressed you may feel assured that I view your
.
march
and I
allow of
far too seriously to
my
remaining quiet,
can not to have to blush for the conI hope to receive news when
fidence you have shown me.
you
will
start
do
from
all I
my
but
spies,
it is
desirable that I should
be
informed in good time."
We
need not follow in
next few days.
Suffice
it
detail the miserable story of the
to say that the 12th
was spent
in
preparations for the march, including the melancholy busi-
ness of arranging for the transport of the wounded, and
destroying
all
On
tents
and such
stores as
were not absolutely
made at dawn there

was not much fighting, but progress was terribly slow, and
the column bivouacked at Tsonteree for the night, having
wanted.
made
the 13th a start was
On
only 5 versts.
to Shouani,
the 14th the march was continued
where the road

1
See
or path
omte,
chapter
branched in one direction

xvii.
Here Shamil
to Mayortoup, in the other to Gherzel aoul.
had determined
conclusion
let
his stand
and
if possible,
sworn not to
much hard
make
to
12 versts
having
two days 7
officers
wounded.
officers
and 70 men
killed,
already vast
to its
The mistake of the 6th
once more been repeated
left
and 225 men
won
bank of the Aksai,

from Tsonteree, and halted,
on the
opposite Sayasani,
lost in the
There was
by evening the column had
position near Issa Yourt,
train of
and bring matters to a

said that his naibs had
the Kussians pass this spot.
fighting, but
and added 24
is
it
405
instant
had
the vanguard had hurried on
the enemy had at once taken advantage of the
rushing on the centre, composed of the
less sturdy
fact,
and
regiments
Army Corps with their huge convoy of stores and

wounded, had committed much havoc that ought never to
of the 5th
have been
possible.
On
the 15th the men, exhausted by
the previous day's fighting, were incapable
any
and though the enemy gave
distance,
of marching
little
trouble,
V6rontsoff bivouacked at Alleroi, only 4 versts farther on.
and 63 men
wounded. The 16th was a disastrous day; the enemy were
very determined, and the Russians played into their hands,
The
loss
was 15 men
killed,
repeating, incredible as
it
and 3
may
officers
seem, the fault that
had
much blood and suffering. The maxim of

was
adopted
apparently throughout the campaign
Souv6roff
not only by Klugenau, but by any and every commander
who happened for the time being to lead but perhaps to
already cost so
some extent
it
was
No
inevitable.
sooner had the
men
surmounted one obstacle than they found another confront-
The way was along the thickly wooded left

bank of the Aksai, up and down hill, and across many
ing them.
1
Albrandt amongst them, who, as Heimann tells us, quietly smoked his
pipe whilst his arm was being amputated Kavlcazsky Sbornik, p. 336.
:
406
deep
gullies,
in addition to
which there were the usual
barriers of felled or fallen trees at every convenient spot.
The
was of the
fighting
closest kind, often
hand
to
hand
each step in advance led naturally to the next, besides

which every soldier knew that the only chance of safety
neighbourhood within
the next two or three days at most, and pressed on with
feverish haste.
The usual consequences ensued the
lay in reaching Gherzel aoul or
its
column became broken
and the former scenes were
peated so exactly, that in reading them one

to think that
first
former page
by mistake one has turned back to a
sappers
who had taken
re-
inclined at
is
cut to
because the troops,
pieces
the barriers they were to clear a road
through, had gone on ahead, and the enemy had closed in

after
or
them;
artillery left
wounded
the
savage
By evening
itself to
man
uncovered, and every
then the hideous scenes of slaughter
swordsmen broke
in
killed
when
amongst the wounded.
the miserable, worn-out column had dragged
the aoul of Shaukhal-Berdee, a distance of about
and there stopped, like a wounded stag that wolves

have hunted down and brought to bay.
On this, the
5 versts,
men
fourth day, the losses were 2 officers and 107

15
officers
and 401 men wounded; the
killed,
total losses since
leaving Dargo were over 1000, and Gherzel aoul was

15 versts away
that
is,
still
the column had covered only 26
versts in four days, or at the rate of a little over 4 miles a
now more
day.
There were
and
setting off the
numerous
than 2000
wounded
sick against those
did not wholly incapacitate them,
it
could not be more than three sound
is
altogether,
whose hurts
evident that there
men
to lead, carry, or
guard each sick or wounded comrade through that terrible

forest, and do all the scouting and fighting in the van, the
rear,
and on
either flank.
Added
to this, the provisions

had come
an end, the
to
men were
already suffering from
hunger, and were rapidly becoming demoralised
blame
of
to
them
them were
The
407
and small
best troops in the world, and some
could hardly be expected to come
there,
through such an ordeal with courage unimpaired.

the Caucasian regiments gave signs of breaking
and again, but they could never
resist
Even
down once
an appeal
to their
At one moment, on the 14th, a mixed rabble of

Apsheron and 5th Army Corps men, to the number of
honour.
lay
400,
down and
refused to
turned to them and
Voznesensk ? "
"
sang,
great
We
are
White
said,
move.
" Boys,
General
Liiders
what did you sing
grey-haired sergeant stepped out
heroes,
Tsar."
sons
of glory
The men leaped
children
Then General
"Is
it
you
to
fire,
and
to their feet,
fell
and
of the
taking up the song in chorus, marched to the attack.

they were met by a deadly
at
and,
But
back once more.
Bieliavsky turned to them, raging, and cried,
possible that there's not one honest

die with his general
"
At
man amongst
that the handful of
Apsheron men sprang up, the rest followed, and the

1
barrier was taken.
Vdrontsoff saw that to march any farther was impossible
;
he decided to await the
arrival of Freitag, not
knowing,
however, whether his message from Dargo had reached that

general or not.
The whole
terrible uncertainty
the
of the 17th
men had
was spent in
this
nothing to eat but a small
amount of maize found in the fields round the aoul, smallarm ammunition was getting low, and the artillery had hardly
a round left to answer the guns from which Shamil bombarded the camp at intervals the livelong day. The 18th
came, and no news. The long agony was drawing to a close.
The army was now actually starving, and a day or two at
1
Delvig, op.
cit.,
p. 219.
408
One
most must bring the end.
writer
who was
present
had determined, if no help was

forthcoming that day, to abandon the wounded and cut his
way through to Gherzel aoul. But he is so hopelessly wrong
declares that Vorontsoff
as to
what did take place
are not to be credited.
that his statements as to intentions
Other accounts picture V6rontsoff
as behaving heroically throughout this trying episode, and

his popularity throughout the Caucasus to the
period of
office is in flat
end
of his
contradiction to a charge which,
was current in the camp. The

Viceroy was a brave man, a soldier and a gentleman with
him were Klugenau, Bariatinsky, Bieliavsky, Labeentseff, and
according to
author,
its
many more
men
mould we may be sure that

no such deed of shame was contemplated by the chiefs,
of heroic
though wished, perhaps, by many below them.
we have
Moreover,
V6rontsoff's order of the day addressed
on the 17th, in which he says
to the troops
"
About
our-
we need not trouble our heads we can always make

good our way our main care must be to get through our
that is our duty as Christians, and God
sick and wounded
selves
will help us to fulfil
The 18th
it."
July, the sixth day since the
passed like
its
column
left
Dargo,
predecessor without a sign from Freitag;
hunger grew more intense; the guns were without ammunition; the troops had only fifty rounds left; Shamil
kept up his bombardment the Murids and their followers
;
swarmed on every
place of vantage.
but
it
kept
suffering.
all felt
all
side
The
and sniped the camp from every
actual loss occasioned
on the
strain
was not large,

and added annoyance to
The sun was already
must be the
last
low,
and the night that
drew near, when suddenly through
Kavhatssky Sbornik,
Ibid., vi. p. 356.
ii.
p. 133.

the forest to the north came the muffled
shot, then another
boom
409
of a cannon
and another, the most welcome sound,
surely, that ever fell
on a listening army's
Like magic
ear.
camp was all astir hope took the place of despair

the wounded for a moment felt no pain; the sick were
well; those who were whole shouted for joy, and "Freitag"
was on every tongue.
Never was name more fervently
the
blessed, seldom
more deservedly.
Five separate messengers, three natives and two Russians,
had been
sent off from
Dargo
summon
to
his aid.
Strange
to say, all five performed their perilous mission unscathed.
But one message was enough.
It
reached Grozny at mid-
night between the 15th and 16th.
something of the
ments,
sort,
and had already made
echeloning his
and Gherzel
available
He
aoul.
Freitag had foreseen
set
troops
his arrange-
between Grozny
out without a moment's delay,
rode 160 versts in two days, gathering his forces on the
way,
and
debouched
at
p.m.
on the 18th his advanced guard
on a small open space in
full
view of the
Next day V6rontsoff moved out to meet

him, and on the 20th the remnant of the expeditionary
Shamil, after measuring
force was safe at Gherzel aoul.
beleaguered camp.
strength with Freitag,
retired,
letting their prey escape
growling at his naibs for
them after all.

was not made without
loss.
The
But the final retreat
up
by
the
gallant
men
of
brought
the
Kabardd
rear was
regiment, and the last opportunity for the display of heroism
below and incompetence above was not wasted. One company was left behind, forgotten and destroyed, only three
men
escaping.
day was 3
The
officers
loss to the expeditionary
and 78 men
men wounded. Freitag

27 men wounded.
lost
14
killed, 8
men
column
officers
killed, 1
this
and 139
officer
and
410
Yermoloff in a long and interesting letter to Vorontsoff,

dated February 1846, 1 writes: "I do not dispute that
Freitag had not
if
none the
fresh troops you
have fought your way through.
less
many
come up with
would
But how
of you "
And he rightly corrects V6rontsofFs statement that the Russians had never been at Dargo before,
whereas Eosen and Veliameenoff had been there in 1832.
The total losses of VorontsofFs army were 3 generals,
195
and 3433
officers,
guns were
The
killed
and wounded.
Three
local battalions covered themselves with glory,
certainly without
The
men
lost.
and
them not a man would have escaped.
battalion of the
Koureen regiment, which had been
used for flanking service, the most dangerous in forest

warfare, lost
603
men and
23
officers
out of 850, the
Kabarda in the same proportion.

So ended the memorable Dargo expedition of 1845. 2
1
Akti,
x. p.
314.
Sbornih, vols. vi. and vii., contains a lengthy account of the

whole of the operations of this year. It says much for Nicholas's loyalty to
his friends and high spirit that he thanked Vorontsoff in warm terms for his
efforts and devotion, and even conferred on him the title of Prince Akti, x.
On the margin of V6rontsoff's report he wrote, "Read with greatest
p. 313.
interest and with respect for the splendid courage of the troops " ibid., x.
2
The Kavkazsky
p. 397.
'Glierzcl
SaycLs&rvb
GEORGE PHILIP & SON IV
Longmans,
Green,
&&., Ionian/, 2te#rHrrk, Bombay & Calcutta..
CHAPTEE XXV
1846
Shamil's invasion of Kabarda Freitag's pursuit Shamil checkmated His

Hadji Mourdd's raid Shamil enters Akousha His defeat at
flight
Kouteshee
The
Russian
losses
only consolation V6rontsoff could offer the Emperor
was that
for the heavy loss sustained
" the mountaineers
have now learnt that we can reach them in places hitherto

He determined in future to addeemed inaccessible." 1
vance systematically, cautiously, and to seize only what
could permanently be held but he had yet more than one
;
sharp lesson to
learn,
and
it
was
left
Prince Bariatinsky, a whole decade

last,
to
his
later, to
in its entirety, Veliameenoff's sage advice.
the year 1846 was
to be
successor,
carry out at
Meantime
devoted mainly to constructive
work, the strengthening of existing forts and fortresses,

the addition of new ones, the improvement of barrack
accommodation, the
Akhtee
building
into Georgia over the
co-ordination
stituting the
and
of
main
disposition of
military road
chain,
the
from
and the better
various forces con-
The 5th Army Corps
as such was to return to Russia, leaving its second battalions

as the nucleus of a whole new division, to consist of four
five-battalion
regiments of infantry, with a proportionate
increase of artillery
on a large
and engineers.
No
offensive operations
were contemplated, and
scale
fighting took place

1
it
if
any serious
could only be as a result of hostile
Kavkazsky Sbornik, xiv.

411
p. 445.
412
him, at the beginning

of the year, the greatest danger seemed to threaten the
valley of the Alazan in Georgia, which lay open to incursion
Happily the
from the north at more points than one.
movements on Shamil's
From
part.
was in the strong hands of

General Schwartz, with whom, from the Samour district,
Argouteensky vigilantly co-operated, so fully occupying
Lesghian Line, guarding
it,
the attention of the Murid leaders that their plans were
rendered abortive and the peril to Georgia averted. 1

in
this
direction,
Shamil threatened
Baffled
ostentatiously
the
territories of the Darghee confederacy while secretly pre-
paring for the invasion of Kabarda, the most audacious
and unexpected of
all
his
military
enterprises,
the
one
that in case of success promised most profit to himself
and
his cause,
most trouble and danger to Russia.
To understand
it
is
the
full
necessary to recall the conditions
central
or
obtaining in the
mountains,
more often want of connection,

inhabiting and
between the
tribes
farther
with whom, of
east,
episode
this
and western Caucasus north of the
and the connection,
has
of
significance
there
late,
the
those
dwelling
present
narrative
For whereas
almost exclusively dealt.
the Turks had a footing in the
Taman
so
long as
peninsula
it
was
necessary to treat the struggle for the possession of the
Caucasus as a whole, from the

ever be borne in
the western
Anapa by
But it must
final capture of
the Russians (1828) that necessity ceased.
mind that the desultory warfare against
tribes
continued,
practically without
inter-
The Lesghian Line, established to protect the valley of the Alazan

(Kahhetia) and ultimately all Georgia, had a length of 200 versts at the
foot of the abrupt southern declivities of the main chain from the village of
Lialis-Keuri to the town of Noukha in the khanate of Shekeen. It acquired
great importance from the moment of Daniel Sultan's defection ; and, strictly
speaking, the troops disposed along it date, as a separate corps, from that
time (1844). Kavkazshj Sbornik, vii. pp. 614 et seq.
1
413
mission, until 1864,
and that from time to time efforts

were made, though with scant success, to co-ordinate the
armed
resistance
Emissaries were
and kindred
Eussia in both spheres
to
now and
of conflict.
again despatched by the Tcherkess
tribes to seek aid or advice
in turn sent agents amongst
them
from Shamil, who
to stir
up the embers
of resistance
when
them on the
success that from time to time crowned their
efforts
its
common enemy.
against the
what took place
flames burnt low, or to congratulate
any
at
Information as to
however
point,
spread
distant,
throughout the Caucasus with that celerity which, in the

absence of any organised means of communication, has
always astonished civilised people in barbarous and semibarbarous countries
nor could the changing fortunes of
the belligerents, whether on the eastern or western flanks,

fail
As
of mutual influence, however indirectly exerted.
victory declared alternately for one side or the other the
pressure from the north
automatically increased
or dimi-
nished, and this not only at the actual scene of operations,
but to the farthest extremities of the Line.
Thus the
de-
struction of the Russian fortresses on the Black Sea coast

in
1840 was a factor of some importance in Shamil's
recovery of power after Akhoulgd
his
own
similar successes
were not without
in Daghestan, three
years later,
in the distant west;
and so too with
reverses.
effect
So long,
indeed, as both the eastern and western native population
continued the struggle, each section benefited or

as the case might be, by the action of the other
either were to
make peace with
suffered,
;
Russia, the latter
but
if
would
be able to concentrate in overwhelming force against the

remaining
foe.
It
was
therefore
a matter of vital im-
1
By far the most prominent leader jn the western war was Muhammad
Ameen, a Murid sent by Shamil from Daghestan.
414
portance to Shamil that the western war should continue,

of which at this moment there was some doubt ; and,
cheered by his successes over Grabbed he decided that the
time had come to put in execution a plan long secretly
and
cherished,
extend
from sea to
possible,
In the
east,
influence
his
and
authority,
if
sea.
from the neighbourhood of Vladikavkaz
and the Georgian road almost to the Caspian, Muridism

triumphed.
In the west, from the upper waters of the
Kouban
was
to the
Black Sea
coast,
where the
independence continued,
less prominent, the fight for
though with abated vigour.

inhabited by
warlike
Tcherkess, which had
But
race,
religious factor
between lay Kabarda,
in
related
blood
in
accepted Russian rule, and
1822 had abstained from
open
revolt,
though
the
to
since
of
late
There was thus a gap in the very
increasingly restless.
centre of the fighting line which, unless bridged over,
ever keep separate the two
main areas of
must
conflict.
If,
however, the Kabardans could be induced to take up arms,
not only would east and west be linked
but
together,
Shamil's fighting strength would be greatly increased, and
Russia would find herself face to
face,
in
the
northern
Caucasus, with a hostile coalition more formidable
any she had yet encountered.

be great,
the
demanded, the
efforts
strenuous and costly.
than
The danger would indeed
And now,
sacrifices
early in
1846,
entailed,
dazzled
by Shamil's phenomenal successes, some of the leading

princes of feudal
nothing
loth,
Kabarda invoked
his presence,
and
he,
prepared to enter their country in force.
The gathering of the Murid hordes could not, of course,

be kept dark.
Owing to local conditions there were
1
War
V6rontsoff himself admitted as much in his subsequent report to the

Minister Kavkazsky Sbornik, xvii. p. 178.
:

many
too
such secrecy.
in
spies
Every
camp to allow
movement was known
either
hostile
opposing side as soon almost
as
watched and reported
not hourly.
daily,
if
initiated,
out with strange
of any
to the
progress
But
not always so with intentions, though these,

cases, leaked
its
415
was
it
many
too, in
The Russians,
celerity.
indeed, holding exterior lines could seldom hope to conceal
The concentration
their designs.
of their troops at any
given point indicated pretty clearly the object in view.
But with Shamil

by
hostile
it
was otherwise.
territory,
and acting
Completely surrounded
could
from within, he
gather his forces, and threaten the enemy in more direc-
than one, leaving them in doubt up to the
tions
moment
as
to
where the blow would
fall.
Nay
last
more,
having puzzled his antagonists and completed his own

preparations, he could choose where to strike in accord-
ance with the defensive measures they had seen
On
fit
to
con-
occasion he succeeded in
and V6rontsoff himself that his
chief aim was Akousha in central Daghestan, and so
satisfied was the Russian commander-in-chief on this head
adopt.
the present
vincing Argouteensky
that,
remaining himself
at
Shemakha, in the south, he
sent orders to Freitag expressly forbidding
the
homeward march of the 5th Army Corps

It
was
him
to
delay
battalions.
early in April that Freitag, at Grozny, got
wind
of the Murid gathering in Tchetchnia, where already during
month
the
of
March
several daring attacks
on bodies of Russian
month,
some
troops,
had been made
and on the 11th of that
convinced already that the enemy had in view
enterprise of quite unusual scope
and importance,
1
Thus on the 2nd March Colonel Kulmann with four companies and two
guns was surprised between Grozny and Vozdveezhenskoe, and lost several
men while on the 17th, near the latter fortress, a column engaged in woodcutting lost sixty-seven killed and wounded.
;
416
he sent a message to General Hasfort at Mozd6k requesting him, despite the positive orders received from St.
Petersburg, and confirmed so recently by V6rontsoff, not
only to stay the homeward march of the two battalions,

part of the 5th
divert
them
Corps, already at that place, but to
Army
Cossack stanitsa on the
to Nikolaievskaya, a
Terek, 30 miles north-west of Vladikavkaz.
At
this time
Freitag had no positive knowledge of Shamil's intentions,
but this movement, together with the simultaneous retention of another of Hasfort's battalions at Kizliar,
suitable disposal of his
possible, in
the
own command, provided
and the
as far as
circumstances, against all contingencies.
For Nikolaievskaya covered, without actually guarding,

the ford on the Terek opposite the minaret of Tatartoub,
a strategic point of great importance already mentioned
Toktamuish and
If Shamil meditated
as the scene of Tamerlane's victory over
of Shaykh Mansour's defeat in 1785.
any movement to the west of Vladikavkaz it was here

that he must cross the Terek, and it is evident that
Freitag's
suspicions
Vladikavkaz
roused.
in
direction
this
itself
was
had
already been
sufficiently garrisoned
by
1300 men, and covered, moreover, by General N^steroff's

small but compact force at Nazran.
If,
on the other hand,
the enemy's objective was Kizliar and the

the additional battalion there
would strengthen the
plain,
local
In either case Freitag's own
garrison very considerably.
army of the Left Flank, being
little
Koumuik
in a central position,
could be concentrated at short notice ready to strike where

needed.
was
The contingency
not, of course,
possibility,
that
of a direct attack on himself
worth consideration, and the only other
so
firmly
credited
movement on Daghestan, was

It
was no
by V6rontsoff, of a
already provided for locally.
light thing to disregard,
on
little
more than
417
mere surmise, the commands of such a ruler as Nicholas I.,

who had only with the greatest reluctance allowed the 5 th
Army Corps
originally
issued
remain in the Caucasus beyond the term
to
assigned,
the end of 1844, and had
i.e.
orders for
positive
its
now
Prince V<5rontsoff
return.
dared not incur so grave a responsibility, and from this we
may measure
the moral courage of his subordinate, who, on
account, possibly, of his

place in the
memory and
Freitag's strategy
German name, holds
affections of the Russians of to-day.
was thoroughly sound,
proved, but his position, none the

anxiety
for
information
less,
received
Shamil's levies would on this

least
so small a
left
as events soon
was one of great

no
doubt
that
occasion outnumber by at
two to one the whole of the forces
at his disposal,
and
being possessed of extraordinary mobility, could be hurled

in overwhelming
numbers on the units
necessarily detached
to the east or west of the Russian position. 2

true,
Freitag,
it is
would be on their heels within a few hours at most,

start was a long one for such rapid movers as the
but any
Murids, and there were hardly any limits to the moral, even
more than
to the
material,
harm
that might ensue for
Russia, after recent misfortunes, from any further consider-
Murid arms.
However, he had done all that could be done with the
means at his disposal he had even augmented those means
by an act involving enormous personal responsibility. He
able success of the
could
now
only await the result.
1 Kavlcazsky Sbornik, xvi,

The present writer recently asked a fairly
p. 315.
well-known Russian general for further information about Freitag.
His
" Freitag ? Freitag ? Never heard of him."
answer was
2
The actual numbers of the native levies were seldom if ever accurately
known, and were generally exaggerated. On the present occasion it would
seem that Shamil crossed the Soundja with at least 14,000 men, for the most
part mounted, and eight field-guns, well horsed and abundantly supplied with
ammunition.
:
2 D
418
The Murid rendezvous was
Shalee, 15 miles south-east
Hearing on the 12th April that Shamil was

there in person, Freitag sent again to Hasfort, who was
not under his command, urging that the two battalions
of Grozny.
should proceed by forced marches to Nikolaievskaya, at

the same time ordering his
own Mozd<5k and Greb^nsky
Cossack regiments to be ready to take the
moment's
notice.
On
the 13th the
enemy
at
field
crossed the
Argoun, and Freitag, almost assured that the invasion of
Kabarda was
accordingly.
really
intended,
completed
his
measures
Orders were sent along the line to concen-
Grozny; but on the evening of the 14th, though

one battalion only of the Samour regiment had arrived,
trate at
men
Freitag, allowing these
three hours' rest, set out at
10 p.m. with 17 companies of infantry, 1 a sotnia of
Don
Zakan Yourt, which was reached

at dawn on the 15th.
Here three sotnias of the Greb^nsky
Cossacks joined, and 300 men of the Samour regiment,
worn out by rapid marching, were replaced by two companies of a Cossack line battalion. At 7 a.m. the march
Cossacks, and 8 guns for
was resumed, and the

hours
fort at
Kazakh-Kitchou reached four
later.
Shamil was now on the Fortanga, and Freitag,
still
fearing a possible dash on Kizliar, did not dare to advance
and even stopped the troops behind him
farther,
Yourt,
for,
east of Grozny, the Left
at
Zakan
Flank was completely
exposed.
At 2
p.m. the
enemy made another
step to the westward
as far as the Assa, but returned to their former position,
and only that evening resumed the advance, marching

1
The
companies
1st
and 4th battalions, three companies
of the 5th battalion
battalion of the
Samour regiment
all of
this
of the 3rd battalion, two

the V6rontsoff rifle regiment, and a
of infantry.
419
time up the Soundj a as far as the inflow of the Indeerka.

Freitag received the news at midnight, and next day, the
16th,
Kazakh-Kitchou for Soundjenskaya

Here he borrowed various units from Nesteroff's
at 2
a.m.,
stanitsa. 1
left
command, to be replaced by the men he had left at Zakan

Yourt, and learning that Shamil had crossed the Soundja
and was heading for the Terek, followed at midday with
5| battalions, 10 guns, and 7 sotnias of Cossack cavalry,
leaving
all
reached
impedimenta behind.
At
8 p.m. the pursuers
Atchalouk and learnt that Shamil had passed
Fort Constantine three hours earlier
thus
all
doubt as to
Greater Kabarda and the west being the points threatened
was
set at rest,
and Freitag made
ingly, sending urgent
and to
messages to
warn
N^steroff, to
He was still disturbed
all
his dispositions accord-
Tiflis, to
the Central Line,
concerned of what was coming.
by the danger
to the Left
Flank should
Shamil double back upon him, but he was determined to
dog his opponent's heels and bring him

first
possible opportunity.
Atchalouk and soon

for the
At 2
a.m.
after learnt that
to action at the
on the 17th he
left
Shamil had bivouacked
night on the river Koupra, after which, leaving
three of his naibs to compel all the inhabitants of Lesser
Kabarda 2
to quit their aouls
for the minaret with his
main
and follow him, he had made

forces.
Freitag called a short
halt in sight of Fort Constantine, and then, not deceived by

reports, purposely spread, that
Shamil had turned down the
Tdrek, hurried on to the Koupra, and there bivouacked for

the night.
At two
in the
again, and at 10
1
Afterwards and
morning of the 18th he moved forward

some 4 miles from the ford, came on
a.m.,
still
known
as Slieptsovskaya, from a celebrated Cossack
leader, Slieptsoff, killed in the neighbourhood in 1851,

minent part in Freitag's pursuit of Shamil.
2
who now took
Greater and Lesser Kabarda were divided by the Terek.
a pro-
420
the three naibs convoying the long line of arbas crowded
with the wives and children and household goods of the

unfortunate people of Lesser Kabarda,
hastily abandoned, crossing the river
under
they
now
of Freitag's
fire
Shamil himself watched the operations from the
guns.
opposite
bank of the
a very
strong one,
spur,
whom
Te"rek
and then took up
almost impregnable,
furrowed by deep ravines, abutting
the river.
Freitag,
his position,
on
the wooded
at this
whose chief concern was
point on
to prevent
Shamil recrossing the Terek, faced the Murid army on

the right bank, and Shamil the same
day defeated and
drove back to the Ouroukh stanitsa, with a loss of 120

killed
and wounded, a force of 1600 bayonets belonging
to
the army of the Central Line, under Colonel Levk6vitch,
who, acting quite independently, had rashly attacked him.

Freitag then sent forward in haste a small column under
Colonel Baron Meller-Zakomelski, which drew off Shamil's
troops and saved Levk6vitch from complete disaster.
Shamil had now
reached
whence he had hoped in
the
commanding
position
security to rouse all Kabarda,
and organise such a force as would hold the Russians in

check while he continued his march to join the western
The enterprise was undoubtedly one of great daring,
tribes.
but, ably conceived, and,
conducted,
it
on Shamil's own
might well have proved
tegral part of his plan, however,
part,
no
successful.
less ably
An
in-
was the occupation of the
Nour Ali, marching

from Tsori to Djerakh, and raising the Galgais and other
celebrated Dariel defile by a force under
clans on the way.
The Georgian road would then be com-
and no reinforcements could reach the

north from Thiis in time to save Kabarda. This part of
pletely blocked,
the combined operations failed, owing partly to mere accident,
and the
failure,
coupled with the unexpected vigour

and promptitude of
whole undertaking
Freitag's
to ruin.
The bargain between
421
movements, soon brought the
and the Imam was
the Kabardans
that he on his part would sweep away every Russian fort
and settlement on the banks of the Terek and

provided that they joined forces with him
its affluents,
but seeing the
Russians already at Shamil's heels, and led by a commander
whose prowess they knew and feared, they hesitated to take

up arms, though in fact they had thrown off their allegiance.
What
each party to the compact
now
said was, "
You do
your part and we will do ours," with the natural result that
neither did anything at
was no enviable
one.
Freitag's position
all.
The danger
in case Shamil did double back
Russian
force, too,
had
meantime
Flank
to the exposed Left
was greater than
ever.
The
arrived in light marching order;
the want both of ammunition and of food supplies was

already
felt
the chief of the Central Line, Prince Golitsine,
proved himself utterly incompetent, and the store depots

throughout his
command were found
enemy was numerically

a brave and warlike
But Freitag did not
to be depleted.
far the stronger,
and the Kabardans,
might yet be induced to
race,
lose heart.
He
The
called
from Nazran, who not only supported him
fight.
up Nesteroff
at a short distance,
but supplied to some extent the much-needed provisions.
The Russian commander's
intention
was
to
attack
Shamil, regardless of odds, on the evening of the 19th;
but before dawn he learnt that the Murid army, panicstricken at the idea of being
was open, had abandoned
made
its
to fight
where no retreat
strong position in the night
in such haste that 1000 iron
kettles
and various other
It should be noted also that the Ossietines remained loyal to Russia

throughout this campaign, a fact of no slight importance in view of their
geographical position and numbers. See map at end of this chapter.
1
422
were
articles
the
left
Ignorant of the topography of
behind.
neighbourhood, without maps, and lacking for the
moment
all
indication as to Shamil's actual whereabouts,
Freitag joined Ndsteroff at Nikolaievskaya, and spent the
day of the 19 th in endeavouring to obtain the necessary
At 10
information.
p.m.
he learnt that Shamil had gone
up the Ouroukh, and had sent emissaries to rouse the

more distant Kabardans and their western neighbours, the
Balkarians, 1 and to encourage the Trans-Kouban tribes with
news of his coming; There was no time to be lost, and
ordering Levkdvitch to move towards Naltchik, and sending
Ne"steroff back to Nazran, so that he might be in a position
to intercept
Shamil should the
latter return
came, Freitag, starting at 2 a.m. on 20th April,
ward
as far as the river Tche'rek
where he arrived at 6
p.m.,
way he
moved westthe
to the fort of that
name,
joining forces with Levkdvitch.
Prince Golitsine, meantime, alive at last to the seriousness

of the situation, had
summoned
to Naltchik,
now
the key
of the position, a battalion of infantry and three sotnias

of Cossacks under Colonel Beklemeesheff;
and Hasfort,
conforming to the movement of his brother commander,
was on the way there with a
force of the
Shamil's forces were
be at Kazeeyeva, some 12
said to
same
strength.
up the Tche'rek than Freitag, who, requesting

watch on the Naltchik side, detached
Meller-Zakomelski across the Ouroukh to intercept the
miles higher
Golitsine to keep
enemy
in case of retreat,
at Fort Tche'rek.
He wrote
At the time
minds of the
Abich attributes
far too
An
was very
great.
The rising in Kabarda

Koumuiks and shake still more
much importance
to the refusal of the Balkar

See his
Kwukasischen Lttndern, Wien, 1896.
important affluent of the Terek, not to be confounded with it.
chiefs (Tartars) to join Shamil.

a
his anxiety
to wait events
" I fear for the Left Flank.
will affect the
meaning himself
Am

their already wavering loyalty,
and the Line
bare
is
423
on the
Left Flank there are no troops, nor any one in command."
He
thought
still
farther to the west.
it
better to wait events rather than be lured
So passed the 21st and 22nd, and again provisions had

nearly run out.
On the 23rd Shamil moved his cavalry on
to the
abandoned Fort Ourvan on the
river of that
name,
threatening Freitag's communication with Naltchik, whence

alone he could hope to obtain further supplies.
the Russian commander
Seeing
this,
made a challenging counter-move,
but the enemy, refusing battle, retired again up the Tcherek,
pursued by
On
Slieptsoff.
the Kabardans were
still
the 25th Shamil, finding that
undecided, hearing, moreover, that
troops were beginning to arrive at Vladikavkaz from Georgia,
which told him that Nour

fearing that his
own
Ali's
retreat
and, abandoning his tents,
movement had
would be cut
made
off,
failed,
and
lost heart
in all possible haste and
secrecy for the Terek.
As
afterwards
known
it
was the accidental passage of
Lieutenant- General Gourko, recently chief of the

Vorontsoff,
and now on
his
way home
to Russia, that led
to the frustration of Shamil's well-planned attempt
Dariel
17th,
defile.
and
Gourko
staff to
Reaching Vladikavkaz from
Tiflis
on the
on the
realising at once the danger of the situation,
sent a letter, written for greater security in French,
to his successor in the Georgian capital, urging the im-
mediate despatch of reinforcements, and meantime took

command himself at Vladikavkaz. This, coupled with the
sagacious measures he adopted for the protection of the
road, caused Nour Ali first, on the 20th, to abandon the
movement on Djerakh, and two days
later, after
threatening
Balta from Tars, to retire altogether.

On the morning of the 26th the sound of cannon firing
424
from the direction of the ford indicated that Meller-Zakomelski was engaging the enemy at or near that spot, and
Freitag at once
on
to learn
moved back
as far as Fort Tcherek, sending
whether Shamil himself was concerned or only
some detached band, possibly sent back on purpose to

The moment the answer came he hurried
deceive him.
forward, but it was too late. Through no fault of his own
his prey
had escaped him.
From
the beginning he had never been more than a
few hours behind Shamil, and since coming up with him

on the 18 th had been ready to strike the moment the
He
chance came.
should
now by
rights
have reaped the
full
reward of his vigilance, courage, and dogged pertinacity,
for
Meller
Shamil's
Zakomelski had
own
absolutely
his
at
disposal
former position near the minaret, command-
ing the ford, and
it
should have been impossible for the
Murids to recross the Terek before Freitag came up and
when
joined battle,
In
all
human
the result could hardly be in doubt.
probability the
totally routed,
its
Murid horde would have been
leader either killed or taken prisoner.
Never before or since had the Russians such an opportunity

to finish the war at a blow, for here were no forest depths
to hide in,
no mountain fastnesses
battle fought in the open, with the
to hold indefinitely.
Terek ford commanded
by the Russian guns, must have meant defeat
irretrievable
to the Murids.
But once more Shamil's marvellous good fortune served

him. Meller-Zakomelski had occupied, indeed, the wooded
spur overlooking the
down
by
to
meet him.
river,
but on Shamil's approach came
Shamil saw the
error,
and profiting
seized the position himself, and, ably seconded
by
Hadji Mourad, rapidly passed the whole of his forces to
it,
the right
bank with
insignificant loss
from Meller-Zako-

melski's
The
fire.
followed,
latter
425
and Freitag himself
crossed the river in pursuit a few hours later (4 p.m.).
the great opportunity was
made
in full flight,
miles) in
little
line of their
lost.
Shamil and his host, now
considerably more than 100 versts (67
over twenty-four hours, retracing at
first
the
outward march but, from the river Tsidakh,
keeping right
on
for
60
miles through
the waterless
between the Terek and Soundja ranges of
valley
But
hills.
Crossing the latter opposite the Mikhailova stanitsa and

the Soundja
itself
near Kazakh-Kitchou on the morning
of the 27th, they drove back into the fort the garrison
men who had sallied out to intercept them, and

from that moment were safe from pursuit. Meller-Zakoof 400
melski kept on the Murid's heels to beyond the Koupra,
but not daring to face the desert space where some even
of the natives died of
and
turned south through Atchalouk,
on the 27th reached the Soundja at Sound-
at 7 p.m.
jenskaya.
thirst,
Nesteroff's chance of intercepting the fugitives
had likewise been frustrated by the northerly route chosen

for the retreat and when Freitag, marching day and night,
reached Kazakh-Kitchou at 8 p.m. on the same day, it was
to find that his prey had escaped him.
Shamil, it is true, had failed utterly in his main enterprise, but he had suffered little material loss, and so well
did he manage things, that even morally it is doubtful if,
amongst the Tchetchens and Daghestanis at least, his
reputation was not rather enhanced than the reverse by
this daring adventure, the failure of which could plausibly
;
be put down to the faint-heartedness of the Kabardans

On the other hand, Kussia had been saved
themselves.
from the
peril
of a great
disaster, and,
Emperor
as the
1
himself admitted, the chief merit belonged to Freitag.
Count Adlerberg to V6rontsoff, 15th
May
1846
Akti, x.
p.
586.
426
who had
Vorontsoff,
23rd,
over.
left
Shemakha
post-haste on the
arrived in Vladikavkaz on the 28th
He
when
all
was
too acknowledged, generously enough, and for
the second time within ten months, his indebtedness to

Freitag. 1
The remainder of the year was marked by great

on the part of the
in either
natives,
who gave
Daghestan or Tchetchnia.
there were continual alarms,
may be judged from
activity
the Russians no peace
In the
latter
country
and the audacity of the Murids
the fact that they bombarded Grozny
and Vozdveezhenskoe (August 28th).

Nevertheless by the end of the year Eussia could claim
itself
24th)
(July
made
had been built

at Khassaf Yourt, to support Vnezapnaya and give additional security to the Koumuik plain, and at Atchkhoi
to have
substantial progress, for forts
on the Fortanga to serve as a link between Nazran and

Vozdveezhenskoe, thus completing the " advanced Line " of
the Soundja
while considerable progress had been made
with the construction of the Akhtee military road.

In Daghestan Hadji Mourad on the 26th May, coming
from Ghimree, raided 158 horses and 188 head of cattle
belonging to the garrison of Shoura, killing 20 men; and
December (13th and 14th) with 500 men he entered

Djengoutai, the capital of Mekhtoulee, by night, and
in
carried off
the
under the noses of a strong Eussian garrison
widow of
his old
enemy Akhmet Khan.
serious fighting took place in October,
had entered the
territories of the
But the only
when
Shamil,
who
Darghee confederacy and
occupied the capital, Akousha, was defeated in person at
Kouteshee with the
loss of
one gun, 2 whereupon the whole
1
See the full account of this affair in KaAikazsky Sbornik,
but above all, Freitag's own narrative, Akti, x. pp. 579-83.
A'avkazsky Sbornik, xiv. pp. 511, 538.
xvi. pp.
327-51
MURID INVASION
KABARDA
1846
Scale. l.l;000,000
GEORGE PHILIP a SON
L*?
ShajmXs route
THE LONDON GEOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE

district
once more submitted to the Russians.
serious
blow
to
427
This was
Muridism, since the recovery of this
populous and flourishing portion of Daghestan was a matter

of very great importance to the cause, one, indeed, on
which Shamil had

It
it,
may
that the
set his heart.
be added, in proof of the constant drain upon
army of the Caucasus
lost in the course of this
comparatively quiet year nearly 1500

killed,
wounded, and missing.

1
officers
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
xvii. p. 255.
and men
in
CHAPTER XXVI
1847-1848
Russian assault on Gherghebil Saltee taken Gherghebil surrendered
Defence of Akhtee
During the
first
three
Veden, or Dargo-Veden,
at
as
of the Dargo which had been

viously,
and
it
lay quiet
months of 1847 Shamil

he called
memory
in
it,
destroyed two years pre-
appeared quite uncertain whether he would
But on the 28th March a brilliant

meteor was seen there, and the same night the suburb or
quarter occupied by the Russian deserters was burnt to
take the
field or not.
the ground.
lowers
the
Shamil interpreted these events to his

first
as Allah's
command
fol-
renew the war,
to
the second as an indication of the fate in store for the

infidels
and promptly put
his forces in motion.
V6rontsoff
meantime, having learnt his lesson in 1845, had been

building forts and roads, for which he had real talent,
instead of undertaking operations in the
it
would seem, he had
little
field,
The
or none.
first
for which,
half of the
year passed in preparation on both sides, enlivened only by
Daniel Sultan's desperate but unavailing

possession of his territory, Elisou.
efforts to regain
The Russian plan
of
campaign was comparatively modest, consisting mainly of

2
the capture of Gherghebil, Saltee, Sogratl, and Ireeb, and
1
"Veden, in the Tchetchen language,
many
of the small plateaus
means a
flat place,
and
is
applied to
or flat-bottomed valleys in the mountains of
Tchetchnia, generally with some distinguishing word before it, as DishneVeden, Benoi- Veden, Djanoi- Veden, &c.
2
V6rontsoff to Tchernisheff, 13th February 1847 Akti, x. p. 442.
:
128
429
the building of a fort at the first-named aoul, to which
Vdrontsoff attached great importance.
From Shamil's
positions for the defence of these places
it is
dis-
quite evident
that he was at this time, as usual, very well served by his

spies or
by his own penetration
probably by both.
Gherghebil, like other aouls already mentioned, had an
admirable defensive position, strong by nature, and made

stronger
still
by
Rising in the form of an amphi-
art.
theatre on the face of a hollow cone of rock at the foot
of
the
Aimiakee
defile,
north-west, where
tier
above
thick, pierced
fortified stone saklias, rising
a kind of citadel in the middle.
to
tier
surrounded
was unapproachable on the
it
overlooked a precipice, and on every
was defended by
other side
was
it
by
wall
14
feet
high
and
It
feet
by embrasures and surmounted by chevaux
de /rise of thorns.
There were two flanking towers, each
with a small cannon
the
only artillery in the place
and
the houses were loopholed in such manner that each tier
might be swept by a
cross-fire
from that above
it.
Within
the aoul, wherever possible, there were barricades, earthworks, traverses, &c.
All this was
beforehand through their
spies,
known
and
to the Russians
also that the place
was defended by a chosen band sworn by a tenfold oath

on the Koran to die rather than to yield. But one detail
they did not
know
until the day of storming.
Prince Vdrontsoff reached Gherghebil on the 1st June,
and took command of the united Daghestan and Samour

divisions,
numbering together ten battalions of
infantry,
besides a large miscellaneous force of cavalry, artillery, and

native levies.
Batteries were placed in position the
day, and a heavy
fire
directed
on the
salient
same
southern
corner of the aoul, which seemed to promise the easiest

entry.
On
the 2nd the terraced gardens were taken pos-
430
session of without a shot being fired in their defence, owing,
was afterwards known,
as
to
the fact that cholera
had
broken out among the Murids detailed for that service.

By the night of the 3rd a sufficient breach had been made,
feeble opposition into thinking
and V6rontsoff, misled by
that the garrison was after all but a
weak
one, gave orders
for the assault.
Meantime an event of some significance had occurred.

On the heights above the left bank of the Kara Koisou,
a well-nigh impregnable position, native troops were seen
For a time there was
to be arriving in large numbers.
much running
it
to
and
was noted that
much
fro,
bustling about, and then
in the centre
position
of the
several
white tents were being pitched, a proceeding that could

only, in the circumstances,
Roman
to the
admit of one interpretation.
circus the Caesar
came
last,
so
was
it
As
here.
There had been no lack of spectators from the beginning,

surrounding
for the
forces
mountains
were lined
the champions, too, had long taken their places,
but the imperial tribune had remained empty.

filled,
act,
with Murid
for
which his valiant
in
It
was now
Shamil had come in person to grace the

followers,
final
encouraged by his
presence, were to hurl back the flower of the Russian army
from the walls of Ghergh^bil or die in the attempt.
Across
the river, at his feet, like a half-opened fan, the orchards

sloped upward to the grim aoul perched high on
of rock
cone
immediately beyond rose the opposite and parallel
range of mountains,
scarred
during aeons of centuries, and
and worn by the weather

split
of Aimiakee, through which, for
the torrent of that name,

forced
its
its
way between
thousand feet high.
asunder by the chasm

a distance of 5 miles,
leaping from ledge to ledge,
walls of rock from three to four
On
his right hand,
where the three
431
rivers met,
he could see in the angle between the Aimiakee

and the Kazi-Koumoukh Koisou, the Eussian batteries on
the crests of the broken foot-hills, the Russian camps in

their hollows.
On his left, the mingled waters flowed
down between mountainous banks to join the

Avar Koisou, and eventually the Soulak. The patch of
silently
cultivated land lay thousands of feet below
around was bare and brown and desolate.

On the morning of the 4th June, at
Eussian troops stood to arms.
keemoff, marched off at once.
was
to take
and
at a given signal
up a
him;
six
all else
o'clock, the
One column, under YevdoThe duty assigned to it
position at the western side of the aoul,
make
a feigned attack in order to
draw part of the garrison away from the real point of

assault.
The storming column under Prince Orbeliani,
consisting of the 1st battalion of the Apsheron regiment
and one of the Prince of Warsaw's (Paskievitch's), with

a forlorn hope provided with ladders, and sappers with
entrenching
tools,
was
to
make
straight for the breach.
Another battalion of Paskievitch's and one of the Samour

regiment were held in reserve
and Argouteensky-Dol-
goroukofFs whole division was directed

the
enemy
defenders.
outside,
keep watch on
and checkmate any attempt to aid the
There was considerable delay, during which the
batteries kept
and daunt the

could
to
up a furious cannonade
foe,
make from
was soon silenced
to
widen the breach
who, except for the petty return they
their
two pieces of
gave
no sign of
artillery
life,
one of which
but that
now and
again, in the intervals of the bombardment, the listening
Eussians heard the melancholy long-drawn notes of the

death-chant rising from behind the wall as from an open
grave.
More than
ever convinced that he had to do with
a mere handful of self-devoted braves, such as those
who
432
had fought and died
in vain
if
the brave ever die in vain
Ghermentchoug and Ghimree, V6rontsoff at 9 a.m.

ordered the signal rocket to be fired. The forlorn hope
rushed forward, but losing its way amongst the trees,
at
eventually scaled the wall far from the point intended, and
suffered severely
the rest of the column, with drums beating
and trumpets blaring, kept the proper direction
and the
Apsheron men, led by their gallant commander, another

Yevdokeemoff, strove to mount the breach. Their comrades
Warsaw regiment followed, but a withering fire from

hundreds of rifles mowed the troops down like grass.
of the
Yevdokeemoff
fell
dead, pierced by a dozen bullets
Vinni-
captain of the grenadier company, strode over his body
koff,
and gained the top of the breach, to
fall in
turn
were exasperated rather than daunted; a Danish
more fortunate than his predecessors and not

led them forward, and the wall was won.
The
men
the
officer,
less brave,
losses
were
already heavy, but there was as yet no thought of failure.
In front was the
first
saklias, and, climbing
row of low stone
when
their walls, the attackers rushed forward,
way beneath
horror the ground gave
shouts of demoniac laughter they
fell
their feet,
to
their
and amid
on to the swords and
The flat roofs had

the whole of the lower row of houses and
kindjals of the Murids lurking below.
been taken
off
replaced by layers of brushwood, thinly covered with earth.
Every house, in fact, was a death-trap, into which the

unhappy stormers must fall, there to be butchered by a
merciless foe.
but
of
still
it
fallen
the
Some of their comrades saw and shuddered,

column came on, and soon nearly the whole
was within the

;
wall.
in small parties,
became
the houses or in
the
Many
officers,
however, had
way
into the aoul, singly or
scattered
and entangled amongst
the men, fighting their
narrow tortuous
streets,
and
no

leading was possible.
became necessary
It
saving with difficulty the wounded
officers,
the column retired through the breach.
by the
reserve,
they formed
up,
433
to retreat, and,
the remnant of
Here, supported
mad
and,
with
rage,
demanded
to be led forward once more.

The second
attempt was a repetition of the first ; the place was im-
pregnable; and the victorious Murids, driving the broken
columns a second time before them, followed until stopped

by the bayonets of the reserve. In spite of heroic bravery
the assault had failed, and the survivors returned to camp.
The
losses
were great:
wounded, and 581
36
had been
officers
the
men
Apsheron
losing 249 of the latter total, the
killed
battalion
Warsaw
or
alone
battalion 146,
the rest being distributed between the scaling party and
the reserves.
For four days more a pretence was made of maintaining

the siege, but beyond keeping up a desultory artillery
nothing was done.
from the
hills
Each night the enemy
and harassed the Russians
well-nigh worn out.
Then
cholera
made
stole
fire,
down
they were
till
its
appearance,
and Vorontsoff, glad of the excuse, abandoned
his position
and
retired
up the Kazi-Koumoukh Koisou. 1
Perhaps the best that can be said for that commander

is
that he never despaired, and was not above learning a
lesson,
however rude.
Dargo had taught him,
in
1845,
not to waste his strength in military processions that could
do no good and might prove disastrous; Gherghe'bil, the

folly of
attempting to take mountain aouls by storm without
adequate
artillery preparation.
It is astonishing
indeed that
the Russians so long treated this arm with comparative

neglect,
when, as a matter of
fact,
in
chance, or rather certainty, of success

1
V6rontsoff 's report to Tchernisheff
it
alone lay their
for it
Akti,
seems abun-
x. p. 450.
2 E
434
dantly evident that without their superior artillery they
were no match either
Tchetchens in their
for the
forests,
mountain strongholds, though,
or the Daghestanis in their
as disciplined troops, they could always beat either in the
open
Vdrontsoff said
field.
little,
but turning his atten-
tion to Saltee, ordered vast quantities of siege material to
be got ready by the

seven weeks,
during which
wounded.
this
both
amounted
occasion
great
displayed
sides
The Russian
even than Ghergh^bil.
far stronger
on
loss
after a regular siege of
by storm at the third attempt,
heroism, took that aoul
though
and
1st July,
2000
to
killed
and
Next year
(1848)
June he
in
Dolgoroukoff with 10,000
men back
Argouteensky-
sent
to Ghergh^bil,
which
the Murids this time abandoned by night after a twenty-
bombardment
The Russian com-
three days' siege, culminating in a terrific
from forty-six guns of various
mander had on
men
calibre.
immediate assistants
this occasion as his
destined like himself to become famous
Orbeli&ni, brilliant
and successful leaders
and Baridtinsky, who between them were
Brummer, who was
to
command
of Kars in 1855 and bring
a modest
away the
staff-captain
Yevdokeemoff
to
end the war
the artillery at the siege

shattered battalions
after the ghastly failure of the assault

least,
Wrangel and
and
of engineers,
occasion received his " baptism of
fire "
but not
last,
who on
during a recon-
naissance in the Aimiakee chasm, through which

close
of
the
siege
Sevastopol and the
he built a road.
capture
of Plevna,
this
at
The defence
after
the
of
Skobeleff's
heroic failures, have secured from oblivion the
name
of
Todtleben.
1
For
Saltee, see V6rontsoff's
official
report
Akti,
x. pp.
the events of 1847 generally, Kavkazsky Sbornilc, vi. pp. 477-682.

2 Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff's reports
ibid,, pp. 474 et seq.
:
463-68.
For
TODTLEBEN
435
In the course of the siege the Russians fired 10,000

shot and shell into this mountain village or against the
Murids outside. Their losses were 4 officers and 76 men
14
killed,
many
officers
and 257 men wounded, besides a great
The enemy
contused.
are
supposed to have
lost
1000, mostly during the struggle that took place between
Prince Bariatinsky and Hadji
The
orchards.
Mourdd
victors gained little
for they were not in
for possession of the
enough by
their efforts,
a position to retain possession of
Ghergh^bil, and retired, closely pursued by the Murids, to
Khodjal Makhee.
They afterwards
fortified
the other end of the chasm, which for
Aimiakee
many
at
reasons was
a better position, while Shamil replaced GhergheHbil by a

strong
fort,
known
as Oullou
KaM. 1
The year 1848 was rendered
further
memorable in the
annals of the Russian military history by the defence of
the fort of Akhtee on
the
Samour, where
under Colonel Roth, and afterwards,
500
men,
when he was wounded,
Captain Novoseloff, in the month of September, held out
more than a week against many thousands under the

command of Shamil and his chief lieutenants, Daniel
Half the
Sultan, Keebeet Mahomd, and Hadji Mourad.
garrison was killed or wounded, the chief powder magazine
for
blown up, the walls breached, water ran short, no food

could be cooked, and the enemy, urged on by their
made repeated and
leaders,
fortress
desperate efforts to storm the
but the garrison, and even the
soldiers'
wives and
Roth's young daughter, whom Shamil it was known had

promised to the first of his naibs to plant his banner on
the walls, agreed to blow themselves up rather than fall
As at Ghergh^bil in 1843,
into the hands of the enemy.
the defenders had the cruel experience of seeing a relieving
1
Kavkazsky Sbornik,
vii.
pp. 483-538.
436
under Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff, approach, and even

come within hail, but after vainly attempting to cross the
Samour from the north, retire out of sight. At last, however, when further resistance was all but hopeless, that
force,
made a wide detour, relieved

Akhtee from the opposite side, after beating Keebeet
Mahomri, and Hadji Mourad brilliantly at neighbouring
gallant commander, having
Meskendjee. 1
1
KavJcazsky Sbornik, vi. pp. 683-727 ; vii. pp. 542-612. Roth's journal of
the siege Akti, x. p. 487. A pleasant anecdote is told of a soldier who in
after years was present at a parade before the Emperor Nicholas, and attracted
the latter's attention by the gold cross of St. George on his breast. Asked
:
where he had won it he replied, in some confusion and very much to his
Majesty's astonishment, "Akhvuee" (in Russian, "Oh, you!"). An explanation being demanded, it turned out that the brave fellow had particularly
distinguished himself at the siege of Akhtee (in Russian, " Oh, thou "), but
!
had not dared to address the Emperor in the second person singular
CHAPTEK XXVII
1849-1856
Shamil at the zenith of his power Argouteensky fails at Tchokh Hadji

Mourad His raid on Shoura He is sent by Shamil to Kaitago His raid
on Bouinakh Shamil's jealousy He compasses Hadji Mourad's death
The latter surrenders to the Russians, but escapes His death Slieptsoff
killed
Bariatinsky chief of the Left Flank Forest cutting Baids Depopulation of lowland Tchetchnia The Crimean war Operations in Asia
Minor Danger of war with Persia Secret convention Shamil's invasion
Argouteensky's march Shamil's second invasion of Kakhetia
of Kakhetia
and capture of the Georgian princesses Their captivity Shamil at home
Speaking generally, it may be said that from 1848 to 1856

in the eastern Caucasus both the Russians and Shamil
there were comparatively few
on the defensive
engagements of note, none involving very serious losses
stood
to either side.
Shamil was
left
in undisturbed possession
of western Daghestan, including Avaria, and of the greater

part of Tchetchnia
but,
on the other hand, the destruction
of Saltee and Gherghebil, the building of forts at Aimiakee,
Tsoudakhar, and other places, and the establishment of

permanent staff quarters, with ample barrack accommodation at suitable strategic points, had greatly lessened
the danger of invasion for Russia and the native states
subject to her.
Prince Vdrontsoff, realising that he was not
Muridism a mortal blow in existing

conditions, contented himself for the most part with
strengthening his lines on all sides pending the advent
strong
enough
of a favourable
to deal
moment
and otherwise devoted

to the reform
necessarily
of the
extensive
for
resuming a more active
his very great abilities

civil
administration.
and
varied
437
in
policy,
and energy
In
this field,
a country like the
438
Caucasus, he achieved great and lasting success, and on
fame as viceroy of the Caucasus must rest. But

military attitude was by no means one of merely pas-
this his
his
sive defence, particularly in Tchetchnia,
where the ruthless
partisan warfare went on as before, varied from time to
time by raiding expeditions on a large scale.
Nor was Shamil
In 1849 his authority and
inactive.
influence over the tribes reached their culminating point

his rule
was pure despotism, enforced by the sword and by
the executioner's axe, without which grim instrument borne

in his train the dreaded
Imam now
never stirred abroad.
His word was law, and none dared question

blood relations of his
were ready
many
it,
Men
victims.
to give their lives at his bidding,
not even the

in thousands
and
his trusty
hand to lead them against the foe in

any undertaking however hazardous, conspicuous above all
being Hadji Mourad. But to the discerning eye it must
lieutenants were at
have been evident that this state of things could not

that the end, though veiled, and
still
perhaps distant, had
come appreciably nearer; that the

Caucasus by Russia, inevitable from the
final
be delayed
much
The Eussian
last
conquest of the
first,
now
could not
longer.
successes at Saltee and Gherghdbil in 1848,
dearly bought, were to some extent balanced the following

year, in so far as they affected the prestige of either side,
the failure of Argouteensky's attempt on Keebeet
new
fortress
position,
by
Mahoma's
near Tchokh, occupying an unusually strong
even for Daghestan,
miles south-east of Gouneeb.
on a mountain
some
12
After a long bombardment,
during which Todtleben developed
those
talents
which
made him famous, and 22,000 shot and shell

were fired at the place, the Russian commander retired
rather than risk an assault, and Tchokh remained a virgin
subsequently

stronghold to the end of the war.
the Eussians
Against
could set the completion
439
this, in turn,
of
Akhtee
the
military road,
shortening communications between Tiflis

and Shoura by more than 250 miles, and remarkable,
amongst other things, as comprising the first tunnel ever
made
in Russia.
Hadji Mourad
of
all
Earlier in the
set the
same year (14th April)
crown to his fame as the most daring
the Murid leaders by a raid on Shoura, the capital and
chief military centre of Eussian Daghestan, an event that
Emperor
called forth strictures from the
himself.
Entering
the town by night he attacked, by mistake apparently, the

hospital,
natives,
and the story still runs, told with zest by the

that having killed all the sick and wounded,
Hadji Mourad had shashliks 1 made of their flesh, and so

left them, that the Eussians entering might think he and
his men had been surprised at their dinner and unwittingly
devour their own slaughtered comrades.
The
truth
is,
however, that only one hospital patient was wounded, none
had barricaded themselves in one of the

The alarm was quickly given, and Hadji Mourad
killed, for the rest
wards.
fled
13
after
killed
sharp skirmish, in which the Eussians lost
and
wounded,
the
raiders
20.
There
was
obviously no time for the preparation of any such horrible
meal, nor need
we add
many misdeeds
this to the
celebrated partisan leader.
It
was on
of that
this occasion that
he
resorted to the well-known device of reversing the shoes of

his horses to baffle pursuit.
The
following year he
made an
incursion into eastern
Georgia and put to the sword the small Eussian garrison

at Babaratminskaya, a
its
deed destined
to result tragically for
perpetrator in the near future.
In 1851 Shamil
1
sent Hadji
Mourad
Bits of meat skewered and roasted.
into
the
coast
440
provinces of Kaitago and Tabassaran to rouse once more
the inhabitants against their Russian masters, and again
he signalised himself by one of those daring escapades

that have rendered his fame imperishable in the annals of
With 500 horsemen he entered by
Caucasian warfare.
night Bouinakh, a rich aoul on the military road between
Derbend and Shoura, killed Shakh Vali, brother of the

Shamkhal of Tarkou, on his own threshold, and carried
off captive his wife and children, for whom Shamil subsequently obtained a heavy ransom
Mourad and
his
men
on
Hadji
this occasion
rode 100 miles in less than thirty
hours, and though hotly pursued, escaped scot-free. 1
were,
indeed,
no bounds
surprising that he
his
to
became the
daring,
and
it
There
is
not
terror of all those districts
whose inhabitants had submitted to Russia, and to such

an extent that on one occasion 1500 native militia under
command of a Russian officer fled before a score or so of

Murids who attacked them shouting " Hadji Mour&d
2
Hadji Mourad!"
But on the whole the expedition was a failure.
Russians had the advantage in such fighting as took
and the
natives,
though
Murid cause, were

which exposed them
their
dissatisfied
to the
The
place,
sympathies were with the
with a conduct of operations
vengeance of Russia without
bringing any compensating advantage.
They complained
of Hadji Mourad, whose many enemies at home

no opportunity of blackening him in Shamil's eyes
bitterly
lost
and
whose jealousy had been thoroughly

rid himself of one whose popularity
at last that chieftain,
roused, determined to
might endanger plans dictated by family ambition,
for the
1st July 1851.

Just as the British merchant captain induced a French privateer to
surrender by assuming the name of Sir John Lockhart Ross.
i

Imam had
recently proclaimed
his successor. 1
Kazi
his son
441
Muhammad
Hadji Mourdd was condemned to death in
secret conclave at Avtouree in Tchetchnia,
and nearly
fell
into the trap laid to capture him.
Warned, however,
the last moment, he
Vozdveezhenskoe and
made
his
way
to
at
gave himself up to the Russians. 2
The commander of the

fortress, Colonel Prince Vorontsoff, sent him on to his
father, the viceroy, at Tiflis, who received him with joy,
and obtained the Emperor's consent
to his
remaining in
the Caucasus, in view of the services he might undoubtedly
be expected to render; but Nicholas, who wrote on the
margin of V6rontsoff's
letter
"Thank God, a good beginning

teristic
announcing the surrender,

"
!
pointed out with charac-
man who had
distrust that a
once turned traitor
might do so again, and threw the whole responsibility on

Hadji Mourad was kept in a sort of honourable
Vorontsoff.
captivity at Tiflis, but his family
was
at Tselme'ss, in Shamil's
power, and their possible fate troubled him to such an extent

that he spent whole nights in prayer and
He
was
sent, therefore, to
Failing in
their rescue.
thence at his
own
pretence that
there he
rites of his
religion
Grozny
this,
he could
he returned to
request was
could
became quite
to see if
Tiflis,
and
Noukh, on the
sent to
observe
ill.
effect
more
strictly
the
pending Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff's
consent to his joining him in Daghestan.
Brooding over
his wrongs, irritated at the surveillance exercised over him,
missing the wild excitement of his former
life,
and
filled
with the gloomiest forebodings as to the fate of his wife
and children
for
like
Shamil and others of these blood-
thirsty semi- savages Hadji Mourad was a devoted husband
Levan Melikoffs narrative
career,
2
of the principal events in
put together from that leader's own statements
Akti, x. p. 525.
Hadji Mourad's
Akti, x. pp. 525-30.
442
and father
he
determined once more to
effect his escape.
Riding out one evening with the four faithful followers

allowed him, and escorted by only
Mourad suddenly
the commander-in-chief's convoy, Hadji
drew a
pistol, killed
the non-commissioned officer in com-
mand, one of his men
made
killed a Cossack,
off at full gallop.
Tiflis.
latter
and the
little
and jumping
party
who was
Captain Boutchkeeyeff,
what had happened, quite
responsible for them, hearing

lost his head,
Cossacks of
five or six
into a tarantass, drove off to
His reception by Vorontsoff may be imagined. The

had undertaken a great personal responsibility towards
his stern master,
and through the gross carelessness of his
subordinate had
now
to face the unpleasant duty of in-
forming Nicholas of Hadji Mourad's escape.

serious
trouble
might
be
expected
in
the
Moreover,
mountains.
the Russians, the commandant at
Luckily, however, for
Noukha, Colonel Korganoff, was a man of energy and
Knowing
judgment.
that the
defiles
were guarded, he
gave orders to the militia to follow the road to the plains
taken by Hadji Mourad in 1850 in the raid on Babarat-
The
minskaya.
later,
result
was
Two
entirely satisfactory.
days
on the 23rd April 1852, the fugitives were discovered
and surrounded in a wood by a large party of
militia,
who
were soon joined by other troops and by the inhabitants

of the district, led by a blood-enemy of Hadji Mourad's.
And now took
place one of those dramatic scenes so frequent
in Caucasian warfare.
Murids dug a
made
of
pit
Seeing escape to be impossible, the
with their kindjals, killed their horses,
them a rampart, and intoning
prepared to
sell their lives as
their death-song, 1
dearly as possible.
as their cartridges lasted they kept their enemies, a

to one, at
bay
As long
hundred
then Hadji Mourdd, bare-headed, sword in

1
Appendix
II.
Hadji Mourad
443
He was
down, and two of his men with him the other two,
wounded, were taken prisoners and executed. So, on
24th April 1852, in Vdrontsoff's words, "died as he
hand, leapt out and rushed on his death.

;
lived
Hadji
Mourad,
desperately
cut
sore
the
had
His ambition
brave.
equalled his courage, and to that there was no bound."
When
body was brought back to Noukha the whole

population came out with music and shouts of exultation,
for
his
Hadji Mourad had for years past kept them in terror
of their
To completely
lives.
the raider's head was
whence
it
cut
was afterwards
is
the seat of courage.
their
fault,
lost the
lieutenants.
It will
name and fame
to
Tiflis,
sent to the great Russian surgeon
though his heart would have
if,
commonly
as
held, that organ
The Russians were
most formidable enemies
had
and despatched
off
Pirogoff, in St. Petersburg,
been more to the purpose
reassure Prince V6rontsoff
rid of
one of
Shamil, through his
own
and enterprising of
most valiant
his
be long, indeed, ere Hadji Mourad's
are forgotten on the mountains he defended
or on the plains
he ravaged
and
if,
as reported, Tolstoy
has written a work, to be published after his death, having
Hadji Mourad for hero, the world
one day
at large will
be possessed of the Avar raider's full-length portrait drawn
by a master-hand.
General Okolnitchi says of Hadji Mourad
not, like
and
"
He had
Shamil, the talent requisite for directing large
serious military undertakings
none ever
excelled
him
leader of raiding parties.
in
but,
on the other hand,
daring and enterprise as
He was
a skilful partisan, after
the style of the once famous Polish Pans, Lissdvsky and
Sapi^ha.
It
was a
light matter for him, with a party of
400 or 500 horsemen, to appear suddenly at the rear of

our troops, far inside our own boundary to ride 70 versts
;
444
to-day, 100
to-morrow
draw
off attention
by
false alarms,
and, profiting by the general panic, escape unhurt.

qualities obtained for
These
Hadji Mourad, in the course of time,
such renown in the mountains as no other naibs enjoyed,

and, from time to time, alarmed even Shamil, in spite of
his remarkable
skill in
Four months
earlier
suffered a grievous loss
1
keeping his people in hand."
(10th December 1851) the Russians
by the death of General
the most celebrated of their

killed in
one of the petty
own
raids,
Slieptsoff,
who was
partisan leaders,
the successful conduct of
which had rendered him famous.

In 1852 Prince Bariatinsky became chief of the Left
Flank, and at the head of 10,000
tated
men
once more devas-
the lowlands of Tchetchnia with
fire
and sword
but the permanent results to Russia were by no means
commensurate with the
efforts
put forth, nor could they
be held to justify the misery caused.

these
considerations and
to the final adoption of
It is probable that
the experience
now
more rational plans when four
years later Bariatinsky, after a short absence,

to
Caucasus
the
some
as
gained led
viceroy
and
came back
commander-in-chief.
had been made.

Forestcutting on a large scale, resumed by Freitag in 1846, and
continued since by Yevdokeemoff, had made the Russian
lines safe, and at the same time given increased facilities
Nevertheless,
for gaining access
mained
progress
to such native strongholds as
intact.
The Tchetchens inhabiting the debatable land

their position
more
still re-
to
intolerable, for
now found
the war tended more
become a struggle between Shamil and
and
his oppo-
nents for the bodily possession of these unhappy people.
Those of them who submitted to the Russians when the

1
Voyenny Sbornik, 1859, Ok61nitohi's third
article, p. 16.

latter
advanced were branded as
leaders
while
if,
on the
by the Murid
traitors
of their
retreat
445
new
masters,
they returned, perforce, to their former allegiance, the

Russians stigmatised their act as rebellion to the Tsar.
To Shamil
their loss
would mean a
serious diminution,
both of productive force and of fighting power

necessary to him, both as
so
to
it
and
subjects
they were
as soldiers
and
happened that neither party being in a position
afford
them
protection
in
their
own
country,
both
Russians and Murids adopted the only practical policy
open to them, namely, their transference en masse with

and their children, their flocks and herds and
household goods, whenever possible, in the one case to the
their wives
vacant lands north of the Soundja, in the other to the
innermost recesses of Tchetchnia.

gradual formation of a broad
The
of uninhabited land
belt
between the Russian and Murid
was the
result
lines,
and the
advan-
tage lay undoubtedly with the invaders from the north;

for the desert thus created
was of
itself fertile,
and had
served as a granary not only to the wilder and more barren

parts of Tchetchnia, to which Shamil's hold over that country
was now reduced, but in great measure to Daghestan as

well.
Nor did the matter end there for the ties of blood
;
were strong amongst the Tchetchens, and the transference

of whole villages to the security of the northern plains
led to the defection of
many
of Shamil's nearest adherents,
including even some of his trusted naibs.
At the same
time the line of Cossack colonies was strengthened and

advanced, while the felling of the forest trees was supple-
mented by the construction of strategic roads.

It was at this time that Count Leo Tolstoy, serving as
an officer in the 20th Artillery Brigade, gained that knowledge of Cossack life and Caucasian warfare so brilliantly
446
set forth in
some of
"
his military stories.
a tale of 1852, gives a vivid picture of
life
The Cossacks,"
on the Line
in
Tolstoy was transferred to
those days, facing Tchetchnia.
Sevastdpol at the beginning of the Crimean war.

Bariatinsky, as
we have
had not yet learnt the
seen,
futility of mere raiding and punitive expeditions, but to his

honour be it said that he to some extent humanised the
methods hitherto in vogue.
It
had been the custom to
rush the aouls by night, when, taken by surprise, the
women and
children had no time to escape, and the horrors
of darkness
that ensued under cover

soldiers
made
their
were such as no
way by twos and
when
the Russian
threes into the houses
Under
narrator dared describe.
official
Bariatinsky the villages were
is
it
still,
approached
true,
and surprised by night, but " they were then bombarded.
The
inhabitants, roused
by the
ran out from their
firing,
houses, and the contest that followed in the streets or out-
was an open, honest fight. The women,

and helpless old men were no longer ruthlessly
skirts of the aouls
children,
slaughtered on their
own hearths
they were taken priso-
ners under the eyes of the Russian leaders as soon as the

village
was
in our hands
and
in
if,
some of the
saklias,
down by
artillery
the defence continued, these were battered

fire
or taken by storm,
less loss in
men than
and
this
was always accompanied by
the former system under which the
troops penetrated two or three at a time into

half-lighted, or even wholly unlighted
morals of the soldiers improved."
As already
houses.
unknown,
And
the
stated, Russia's attitude in the
Caucasus at
time was mainly defensive, and this was largely due to
this
the fact that she was engaged elsewhere,
Turks alone, and

1
first
against the
later against the formidable coalition of
Kavhaxsky Sbornik,
ix. p.
437.
The
italics are
the present writer's.

War
the Porte and the Western Powers.
447
was not actually
declared by Turkey until 5th October 1853 (N.S.), but since
the middle of the
summer it had become inevitable. France

and England declared war on the 28th March 1854 (N.S.),
and peace was not concluded until 30th March 1856.
Now, the Crimean war,
Muhammadan
have given the
an opportunity
might undoubtedly
so called,
population of the Caucasus
to score heavily against Russia,
the end with the same result
though in
but neither Shamil nor the
Allies half realised the chance thus offered, and, luckily

for their
enemy, neither made any serious
effort to profit
by
In Asia the operations of war were almost uniformly
it.
favourable
to
Kars
Russia.
held
out
under
General
Williams until the 16th November 1855, when

rendered to Mouravidff,
its
who had
it
sur-
played a great part in
November
and commander-
capture twenty-six years earlier, and on 29th
1854 had succeeded Vorontsoff as viceroy

Before
in-chief.
this,
during November 1853, the Turks
had been beaten back successively from Akhaltsikh, Akhalkalaki, and Atskhour, and their army, 37,000 strong,
had been totally defeated by 10,000 Russians under Prince
Bdboutoff at Bash-Kadikliar (19th November).
The
fol-
lowing June (4th) Prince Andronnikoff gained a victory over
an enemy's
force,
34,000 strong, on the river Tcholok
and
BeHboutoff,
with 18,000 men, routed the
main Turkish army, more than
three times as numerous, at
on July 24th Prince
Kouriouk-dar, taking 15 guns and 2000 prisoners, while
3000 Turks were

France
left
dead on the
under Omar Pasha, landing
showed even more than

1
See
Oliphant.
But England and

Crimea the Turks,
field.
confined their attention to the

late in the
day in the Caucasus,
their usual incompetence
"The Transcaucasian Campaign under Omar

Edinburgh, 1856.
Pasha,''
and
by Laurence
448
Russia, though, directly, she gained
little
nothing by
or
the war, might well, in so far as concerned her hold on the
For she
Caucasus, view the nett result with complacency.
had undoubtedly escaped a very great danger, the greatest

she had ever incurred in these regions. With Shamil at
the Crimean
the height of his power,
war
in
progress,
England, France, and Turkey combined for her destruction,

it
was thanks only
to the folly of the Allies that she
through the ordeal unscathed.
Failing
came
neither the
this,
courage and ability of the Russian commanders, nor the
heroism
of
their
have
could
troops,
availed to
avert
disaster.
Even
egged on by England, was
Persia,
at
one time
about to join the coalition, and Persia, weak as water in

herself,
So at
might well have turned
Caucasus in
the
who
attitude, to
withdraw
all
of Prince
the Russian garrisons from Dag-
whole of the eastern Caucasus from the
Soulak to the Aras to Shamil

rejected with firmness
,to
governor of the
in April 1854 proposed, in view of Persia's
hestan, leaving the
refused
civil
through ill-health
absence
Vdrontsoff,
was
scales so nearly balanced.
thought General Read,
least
This cowardly suggestion
and dignity by Nicholas
I.,
who
regard the position as hopeless, even with the
Persians arrayed against him.
He remembered
the glorious
deeds of Paskievitch in the early days of his reign, nor ever

lost faith
in his valiant
But the
doubtful attitude of the Shah gave cause for great anxiety

until
September 29th, when a secret convention was con-
cluded at Teheran, by the terms of which Persia was to
remain absolutely neutral while the war lasted in return for

the abandonment by Russia of her claim to the balance of
the old war indemnity.
was bought
for
The Shah's
money, and
the
neutrality,
agreement
in short,
thus
made

was kept in perfect secrecy and
sides.
on both
faith
To
war
perfect
449
return to Shamil, that leader
made
skilful use of the
waning influence amongst his comsome negotiation, took offence at Omar

Pasha's attitude towards him, and vowed to have nothing
more to do with the Turks.
He invaded the Djaroto maintain his
patriots, but, after
Bielokani
districts, east
of Georgia, in
August 1853 with
15,000 men, but was easily driven back, thanks mainly to
Argouteensky's march from Akhtee by bridle-paths or none

over five successive ranges of the snow-covered main chain,
a march described by the commander-in-chief in a general
order as " historical and unprecedented." 2
second
attempt the following year was more successful

valley of the Alazan
was devastated
the
fertile
but on the 3rd July
the invaders were well beaten at Shildee, with a loss of
500 dead, by Prince Tchavtchavadze.

unhappily, a small party under Kazi
The next morning,
Muhammad,
Shamil's
son, penetrating to Tsinondal, the prince's country residence,
carried off his wife
and
sister-in-law,
Princess Orbeliani,
together with their children and some others. 3
But, after
all,
this incursion into
nothing more, and could have no
Georgia was a raid and
effect
on the progress of
the war or on the future of the Caucasus, while at the same
time
it
laid bare to all
who had
lessness of Shamil's cause.
eyes to see the utter hope-
Por
if
now, when Russia was
engaged in a struggle against the combined power of

England, France, and Turkey, he could do no more than
Akti, x. pp. 745-52, where the history of Russo-Persian relations at this
given in detail.
Voyenny Sbornik, 1862, pp. 157-84.
8 General Williams on hearing of the raid on Tsinondal wrote to Shamil
from Kars, strongly remonstrating with him for warring on defenceless women
time
is
and
children.
2F
450
harry a
few villages and
women and
carry
off
of helpless
score
how could he expect to maintain

Russia when that Power should once
children,
himself
against
more be
free to give undivided attention to the
It
Caucasus
does not appear that Shamil saw things in this
light,
but
must be remembered that his knowledge of Russia's

strength was extremely limited, and events so far had conspired to deceive him most egregiously in that respect.
It
it
however, that had not the Allies so totally failed
is certain,
by Muridism
to take advantage of the situation created
the Caucasus, the Crimean war might have proved
more disastrous
was actually the
to Russia than
in
much
case.
French or English force landed at Batoum might very

possibly have driven the Russian armies back north of the
mountains.
But, even
of civilisation
among
so,
there were but slight elements
the mountaineers
Georgia could never have been
mercy of
Russia's
their
work of
left
the Christians of
permanently at the
Mussulman neighbours on either side.

conquest must have begun again sooner
or later, and, whatever her shortcomings,
well for
and
civilisation
for
it
is
undoubtedly
humanity that the
Allies
blundered.
But though of actual co-operation between Russia's

Caucasus there was at this time little
enough, much mutual influence was exerted, sometimes
enemies in the
quite involuntarily.
to
make
Shamil gained a
the most of
it;
respite,
but failed
the Allies, on the other hand,
had the very great advantage of being arrayed mainly

against unseasoned troops.
military critics to
say
It
may be
left
to
impartial
what might have happened had
Russia been able to send 20,000 or 30,000 of the battlehardened veterans of the Caucasus to the heights of the
Alma or of Inkerman.

The moving story of the
princesses was told at length
Verderevsky, editor of the
Tiflis
captivity of the
after
Georgian
their release
paper Kavkaz.
451
by M.
The unhappy
ladies were taken across the mountains on

horseback in circumstances of great cruelty, and interned
They were grand-daughters of the last Tsar

of Georgia, George XII., both of them young and beautiful, and the Princess Orbeliani had recently lost her husband and child after a very short period of married life.
In fording the Alazan, Princess Tchavtchavadze, who was
at Vede'n.
carrying in her arms her daughter Lydia, aged four, and
had nothing on but her night-dress, stumbled and fell, and

was in danger of being carried away by the current. A
Murid seized her, and drawing her up all wet on to the
crupper of his horse, thrust her arm through his belt in
With her other
front lest she should fall off and escape.
hand she still held the child, but, numb with cold, her
grasp relaxed, her barbarian captor paid no heed to the
most
frantic appeals, and, in spite of her efforts, the child
at last slipped from her fingers and
fell
to the
ground,
to be immediately ridden over and killed by others of the
band.
When
a halt was called, another child, Tamara,
three years old, was rescued from a saddle-bag into which
she had been thrust head downwards by the brutal raiders.

A baby boy was alive and well, but his nurse, being unable
to keep
up on
foot,
and not being thought worth mounting,
had been cruelly murdered.

The unfortunate ladies were not
actually ill-treated after
their arrival at Veddn, but they were ill-fed
durance
for eight long
and kept in
months in horrible uncertainty as
to their ultimate fate, Shamil cruelly reminding them, by

1
In a book, translated and published in English by Mr. Sutherland
Edwards.
452
way of warning
against any
attempt
escape
to
or
to
hold clandestine communication with their friends, that

the thirty-three officers and
men had been
killed (in 1845)
only for receiving a letter baked in a loaf of bread.

in reality the
much
But
danger was not great; the prisoners were
too precious to be killed, for their capture was to
serve a special purpose
which would be defeated by their
death.
Shamil had never forgotten the son, Jamalu'd-din, who
had been taken from him
at
Akhoulg6
in 1839,
and kept
in Russia ever since, a most cruel and unjustifiable pro-
He had
ceeding.
his release,
always clung to the hope of effecting
and the capture of the two high-born
ladies
seemed an opportunity too favourable to be neglected;
The
nor in this was he mistaken.
fate of the princesses
aroused the greatest commiseration not only
necessarily
in Russia, but throughout the civilised world.
tions were entered into for their release,
Negotia-
and the Emperor
consented to give up Jamalu'd-din in exchange, but a

difficulty
was created by Shamil's demand
To
ransom as
well.
followers,
who were
made happy by the
this,
for
an exorbitant
no doubt, he was forced by his
willing enough
to
see
their
chief
recovery of his long-lost son, but at
the same time had an eye to the replenishing of the State
exchequer, and perhaps of their
of the ransom was
own
The amount
pockets.
weeks and months a matter of

bargaining of the closest, not to say the most niggardly,
description,
for
considering
interests at stake;
who
but at
of a million roubles
the
parties
last Shamil's
was reduced
to
were
and the
original
demand
40,000, and on the
10th March 1855 the exchange was effected with

solemnity on the banks of the
scene of
many
little
a bloody encounter.
river
much
Mitchik, the

now
Jamalu'd-din,
was
regiment,
princess,
the Russian forces.
men and
river-side
a lieutenant in a Russian Lancer
accompanied
husband of the
453
by Prince
and Baron
Tchavtchavadze,
Nicolai,
commanding
These three, with an escort of
thirty
a cart carrying the ransom, came forward to the

;
Kazi Muhammad, with an equal number of
Murids, advanced on the opposite bank with the arbas
(two-wheeled carts) containing the captives.
accompanied by two Russian
din,
officers
the money, crossed the river to the

to the right,
where they took
left
Then Jamalu'd-
and the
cart
with
bank, the princesses
their places in the carriages
that had been brought from Grozny for them.
Jamalu'd-din was made to change his Russian uniform

for native dress,
Muhammad and
with Kazi
sat,
side,
and then rode up the
hill to
where Shamil
Daniel Sultan on either
surrounded by his Murids, under a huge blue cotton
He was
umbrella.
wearing a green woollen robe, with
red silk under-garment (beshmet), huge white turban, and

yellow boots, which, seeing the importance of the occasion,
and the
fact that
his enemies,
dress.
ing
may be taken
When
he was exposing himself to the regard of

to represent his idea of full
drew near he embraced him, weepbut the event he had so longed for and brought about
at last
his son
by such violent means had in
it
the seeds of a bitter
disappointment.
was indeed a sad one. Brought

up from the age of twelve years in St. Petersburg and
entered in the Russian army, he was now a stranger to his
The
own
fate of Jamalu'd-din
father,
unfitted to
people.
an alien in the land of his
birth,
and
totally
resume his place amongst a semi-barbarous
He had
1
Akti, x. p. 60:
Mouravi6ff.
looked forward to his return with the

Narrative of
the exchange
drawn up by order
of
454
gloomiest forebodings, which were fully justified by the
As
event.
a matter of
fact,
there could be
little
real
sympathy between his fellow-countrymen and himself, and

they soon began to look upon him with suspicion and dislike.
Even Shamil was estranged when he found his son
imbued with Eussian ideas and convinced of Russia's might

After a
to an extent that led him to counsel surrender.
live
in
Karata,
the
short time Jamalu'd-din was sent to
community of that name, the residence

of his younger brother, Kazi Muhammad, and noted for the
comeliness and love of finery of its women. But neither
chief village of the
female charms nor his brother's loving care could reconcile
him
to the
change from
melancholy,
into
fell
civilisation to barbarism
he grew
and within three years
decline,
died.
The
ruins of Shamil's residence
at
Georgian princesses were confined, are

right
bank of the
of considerable
stream.
still
In those days
Shamil's
size,
Veden, where the
several buildings, surrounded
own
on the
visible
it
was a place
quarters consisting
by a ditch and
palisade,
which one was occupied by the harem, with a wing
own
special use.
Here each wife had a
suite
of
of
for his
of three
rooms, which were always kept clean and in good order;

but they were seldom there except
visit
when they expected
the
of their lord and master, who, in conformity to the
Muhammadan
law, treated
devoting to each a
was spent by these

governess.
week
them with strict impartiality,

The rest of their time
in turn.
ladies in the apartment of the children's
Access to the Imdm's'
own room was
allowed
only to his sons, his treasurer, Hadjio, his secretary,
Khan, and a few
others of his
All other visitors were received in the guest-room.

1
Ameer
most intimate adherents.
The Khoulkhoulau.

Of
who were admitted
those
most notable was Daniel,
to the
ex-Sultan
Imam's table the

of
Elisou,
daughter was married to Shamil's son, Kazi
who never
but the only guest
and white
failed
animal Shamil had a great
whose
Muhammad
was a very plain black

For
the gift of a Russian deserter.
cat,
455
affection, and,
when
at
this
Ved^n,
he never dined without his four-footed friend nor began

his
own meal
until
he had prepared
hers.
The
was
table
small and low, and pussy and her master sat on the floor
on opposite
During the
sides.
siege, while
Shamil was in
the neighbouring forest, the cat grew melancholy and, in

spite of all
Kazi
buried her with
Muhammad
much
honour, even pronouncing a funeral
oration over her grave

little
"
favourite
Now
He
could do for her, died.
but Shamil, when he heard that his
was dead, took
it
much
to heart, exclaiming,
will go badly with me."
it
The domestic servants at Veddn were prisoners of war,

both Mussulman and Christian, the former continuing to
serve voluntarily,
though Shamil, out of respect for
gave them their
religion,
liberty.
Abdurrahman, son of
Shamil's old friend Jamalu'd-din, writes of

very good and kind to
and even
prisoners.
common
He was
their
him
"
He
was
people, to servants, beggars,
convinced that the prayers of
the poor were acceptable to God, and when setting out on

a campaign he would call them together, give them money,
cotton cloth, &c, and beg

his
enterprise."
prisoners of
officers,
starved,
war
we have
But
left
seen,
them
his
much
to pray for the success of
ideas
to be desired.
In
for
The Russian
were kept in a loathsome
and eventually massacred.
himself a captive
good treatment
of
pit, half-
after years,
when
and treated with every consideration, he
remembered with shame the miserable

especially of the unhappy sisters.
lot of his prisoners,
456
Shamil had eight wives in
all,
but with one of them
lived only three days, and with another,
whom
he married
but to please the Tchetchens, and pro forma, only three
Of the rest Fatima, daughter of that Abdoul Aziz

him of his wounds at Ountsoukoul, was the
hours.
who
cured
mother of his three sons
1
;
another, Djavgarad of Ghimree,
was killed by a Russian bullet at Akhoulgo, together with

her infant son
Zeidat was the daughter of Jamalu'd-din of
Kazi-Koumoukh, Shamil's teacher and
friend
Aminal was
and Shouanet, the

handsome Armenian who had been taken captive during
Akhverdi Mahoma's raid on Mozddk in 1840. Of all
Shamil's wives she was the one he loved best, and his
affection was returned with interest, showing once more
how strange a lottery marriage is. Here was a civilised
Christian woman, young and beautiful, seized with violence,
carried off from a luxurious home, from family and friends,
a pretty Kist (mountain Tchetchen)
married willy-nilly to a middle-aged semi-barbarous chieftain,
speaking another tongue, professing another Faith, a
man
of blood,
who
put others to death for the slightest
infringement of his
own
who, to
was
crown
all,
and yet there
wives;
is
arbitrary laws
and regulations,
already provided with
several
no doubt that Shouanet loved
Shamil with that whole-hearted, lasting devotion many

she abandoned the religion
of her fathers and
and zealous Mussulman.
sincere
When
men
For him
think themselves entitled to but few inspire.
became a
her brother, a rich
merchant, offered 10,000 roubles ransom for her, Shamil

replied that he
would not take a
would not have abandoned him
million,
for as
much
and Shouanet
or more.
In
the difficult position of a pretty and foreign wife, introduced

into a
harem whose presiding genius, Zeidat, was

1
Jamalu'd-din, Kazi
Muhammad, and
Shafee
ill-favoured
Muhammad.

physically but of superior rank and of native birth,
much
conducted herself with so

peace was seldom broken
justice
in the
would not allow him
tact
457
1
she
and temper that the
and, as Shamil's strict sense of

to
make any outward
treatment of his wives,
the increased gentleness and
all
benefited
in
difference
turn by
condescension to innocent
feminine vanities inspired in the austere breast of their
master by his love for Shouanet.
When
the dreaded day came and Shamil was surrounded
on Gouneeb by the victorious Russian
soldiery, the fate of
The very worst

But Shouanet trembled only for him, and
when permission was given to share his captivity she did so
without hesitation, though she might have regained her
freedom and returned to her own home and people.
was
might happen.
his family
for a short time doubtful.
Zeidat was a direct descendant of the Prophet.
CHAPTER XXVIII
1857-1859
Bariatinsky appointed viceroy and commander-in-chief Milioutine his chief

of the staff Their plan of action
Campaigns of 1857 and 1858 Aoukh,
Salatau, and the Argoun gorges occupied Forts built at Bourtounai and
on the Argoun Vrevsky's expeditions from the Lesghian Line His
death Revolt at Nazran Shamil's abortive attempts at relief His
defeat by Meeshtchenko
1859 Capture of Veden Advance of the three
armies The teb&cle Flight of Shamil Gouneeb The end
With
more
the signature of the Treaty of Paris Russia was once
and resources
free to devote her energies
The war
jugation of the Caucasus.
opened her eyes widely
to the
to the sub-
just concluded
had
danger and disadvantages
inseparable from the existence of a hostile power within
her
own
all,
to a position
She determined to put an end, once for
borders.
which had become intolerable.
Prince
Bariatinsky was appointed commander-in-chief and viceroy

of the Caucasus (22nd July 1856), Milioutine his chief of
the staff; and, for the
first
time, a definite
and
feasible plan
was worked out between them of combined operations, the

result of which was to exceed their most sanguine expectafor not even they had any idea of the extent to
tions
which Russia's position had improved in Daghestan and
;
Tchetchnia during the comparatively quiet period of the
two causes
the
strengthening of the military lines by the building of
forts,
great war.
That improvement was due
to
the improvement of roads, and the cutting of vast avenues
through the
knew
forest
very well
districts,
but
all
much more
458
of which, of course, they

to the gradual
waning of
459
Shamil's authority and influence with the tribes, the full
extent of which they by no means realised.

Veliameenoff,
we have
had likened the Caucasus
seen,
a fortress which must be taken by regular siege, but
to
neither he nor his successors had been able to follow this
dictum in action.
it
Prince V6rontsoff had come nearest to
even he had never got beyond
after his first failures, but
a mere blockade, which could not of itself reduce a whole
country producing
all its
own
necessaries of
life,
might, and in the present case did, prepare the
life
to
way
it
for the
For success in
ultimate triumph of the besieging forces.
the field was the breath of
though
the Murid cause.
long period of even comparative stagnation, marked by no

brilliant feat of arms,
was
no serious
loss inflicted
on the enemy,
sufficient of itself to turn the tide in favour of Russia,
thanks to the demoralising
effect
on the undisciplined hordes
of Shamil.
Prince Bariatinsky,
who
arrived at Petrovsk from Russia
in the middle of October 1856, finding the blockade established, devoted his first efforts to
drawing the
lines of in-
meantime, planned out with Milioutine

the
successive approaches which were
and
the dispositions
There had hitherto been no
to lead to the final assault.
closer, and,
vestment
The armies
rational distribution of military authority.
in
the field were, for administrative purposes, dependent on

chiefs
who were sometimes
far
away from the scene of
and themselves subordinate to the viceroy or comThus the all-important Left Flank of
mander-in-chief.
action,
the
army
general in
first
care
casus
of the north
command
was
into
was within the
at far-away Stavropol.
to divide the
five
jurisdiction of the
separate
Bariatinsky's
whole of the forces in the Cau-
who were
each in his own
armies under chiefs
entrusted with full power, under himself,
460
these armies only three concern the eastern
Of
district.
army of the Left Flank, facing
the
namely,
Caucasus,
all
the troops in
and that of the Lesghian Line
at the south-
Tchetchnia; the Pre-Caspian, including
Daghestan
east foot of the
main
From
chain.
these three bases three
columns were eventually to
separate
of Daghestan, the
first
start
for the
heart
two joining hands in north-east
Tchetchnia, and advancing to meet the third in the valley

of the
fied
Andee Koisou
owing
to
but this plan was subsequently modi-
Yevdokeemoff's unexpected successes, which
enhanced the importance of his command and enabled him

to keep it apart until a later period in the advance.
The year 1857,

saw the
final
in accordance with the plan of campaign,
occupation
of
Lower Tchetchnia by the
army of the Left Flank Yevdokeemoff's and of Salatau

and part of Aoukh by that of Daghestan under Prince
Orbeliani,
while Baron Vrevsky from the Lesghian Line
main chain and harried the wild and savage

Deedo country. 1 In all these directions roads were made
or improved, and, where necessary, avenues cut in the
forests
but the most important step forward was the
capture of Bourtounai and transference thither from Ishkartee of the staff quarters of the Daghestan infantry
crossed the
regiment.
In the course of
this operation Orbeliani beat
enemy on the 24th June near Evgh^nievskoe, inflicting

on them a loss of over 400 dead, including two naibs. 2 By
the middle of November the new fort at Bourtounai was
ready and garrisoned by four battalions, a wide avenue
the
having been cut through the forest to Dileem. 3

1 In this expedition the Russians
were for the first time armed with rifles,
a fact not to be forgotten in estimating their successes from this time
forward. The natives had been in possession of rifled firearms to a small
extent from early times.
1
Akti,
xii. p.
1041.
Ibid., p. 1259.
461
In 1858 Bariatinsky, inspired by Yevdokeemoff, saw

that the time
had come
taking military possession of

gorges, a proceeding
enemy a fatal blow by

the upper Argoun valleys and
to deal the
which would not only deprive Shamil
of almost his last stronghold, but cut
him
off
once for
all
from the whole of the Caucasus west of the Sharo Argoun.
The country remaining
in his de facto possession
would
then be confined to a portion of northern Daghestan and

the adjoining districts of
shee
and other Tchetchen
hemmed
no
Andee and Itchkeria
in
choice
between that
tribes,
river
but submission
the Ingou-
west of the Argoun,
and the Terek, would have
and the
seat of
war in the
western Caucasus would be separated from that in the

Shamil's position would
more widely than ever.
have become hopeless, and his final defeat a matter of
east
months.
The
was by no means an easy one.

Shamil had lost heavily in the field, and his best lieutenants
had been killed off one by one or had gone over to the
enemy; while whole districts, wearied of constant warfare,
had gladly submitted to the Eussians as soon as they saw
that the latter were in a position to protect them against
the wrath of the fanatical Murids. But Shamil was at
Veden close by with a still considerable army, and the
forest-clad mountains enclosing the gorges of the Argoun
enterprise, however,
presented
insuperable
physical
if
difficulties
which might well
fully taken advantage of
enemy, adequate in numbers, and with
prove
by a determined
all
the resources
of the country placed at their leader's disposal
by a devoted
population.
Fortunately for Russia,
it
was
just the latter element,
so incalculably important, that failed Shamil at the last;
and
there
can
be
no
doubt
that
Yevdokeemoff was
462
thoroughly informed as to the discontent of the
and took
element into consideration in planning his
this
For the " three-eyed
campaign.
tribes,
"
general was not merely
a gallant soldier but a wise leader,
who planned with
the
highest intelligence what he carried into execution with

skill
and daring.
But
if
the Eussian
Intelligence
period was well organised,
Department
at
Shamil had likewise
this
ample
means of knowing what went on in the enemy's lines,

was in constant communication with the conquered
tribes, a fact that rendered it impossible to prepare any
for he
considerable
expedition
present case
was soon
it
movement was on
against
known
foot, but,
at
In the
him in secret.
an
important
that
Veddn
thanks to the elaborate pre-
cautions taken by Yevdokeemoff, Shamil was completely
deceived as to
destination, being firmly convinced that
its
the point threatened was the almost impregnable aoul of
Akhtouree, some 30 versts east of the Argoun, beyond

Shalee.
Russian leader and
Only the
subordinates
knew
the real objective,
his
and
so
immediate
well was
the secret kept, that the two columns which set out from
Berdikel on the night of the 15th January
of their destination
snow
their
until, after
so deep that the cavalry
comrades on
foot,
knew nothing
an all-night march through
had
to trample a
way
for
they reached a tower on the right
bank of the Argoun opposite Vozdveezhenskoe, and, entering

the defile, saw a third column under Yevdokeemoff's personal leadership moving parallel to them up the left bank
of the river. The latter was met at the entrance to the
gorge by a hot
fire
from a horde of Tchetchens,
defended their position valiantly, until suddenly
who
becoming
aware of the columns marching on the opposite bank, so

complete was the surprise that they broke and
fled
in

utter consternation.
463
The Russians then advanced a couple
of versts to beyond the point of junction of the two confluents of the river, the right (eastern) or Sharo
the
(western)
left
or Tchanti
Argoun;
Argoun and
one of the two
columns on the right bank bivouacked east of the Sharo

Argoun the other, crossing that river, took possession of the
;
rich village of
Datcha Barzoi on the high land between the

two confluents while the main column under Yevdokeemoff
remained on the left bank of the Tchanti Argoun.
Yevdokeemoff wrote to Bariatinsky " Your Excellency
;
may judge
the difficulties overcome by the troops from
the fact that General Kempfert's column took seven hours

to cover the 8 versts (less than 5|- miles) from Vozdveez-
henskoe to the end of the gorge." 1
Having thus penetrated the
defile
and taken up a
of positions astride both branches of the

troops proceeded to
make good
river,
line
the Russian
their holding, first burning
ground every aoul within reach.
to the
The news that the " impregnable " defile of the Argoun
was at last in the hands of the Russians soon reached
Vozdveezhenskoe and Grozny, and
it
excited that even ladies
so great
came out
was the
interest
and
to visit the camp,
in a short time, in spite of the severity of the frost, the

defile
became the scene of the greatest
of arbas belonging to the
'
peaceful
activity.
'
"
Thousands
Tchetchens were
re-
away the timber the inhabitants of

Vozdveezhenskoe hastened out to buy it and sell their own
produce, or whatever was wanted by the troops
shops
were opened, and booths set up by vendors of food and
quisitioned to carry
drink and every sort of petty trader.

wild,
and inaccessible
In a word, the gloomy,
defile acquired in a very short
the busy aspect of a vast and varied market, people

1
Akti,
xii. p.
1068.
time
moving
464
everywhere, crowds of buyers and
and on
sellers,
all sides
long lines of carts laden with different commodities."
was reported by spies that Shamil on hearing of the

loss of the Argoun defile burst into tears, and well he
might: it was the beginning of the end, and he was far
It
know
too astute not to

It is
the more
at
inactivity
this
it.
difficult,
critical
therefore, to
moment.
It
is
understand his
true
that
the
Tchetchens dwelling on the banks of the Argoun were

strongly disaffected and ready to submit to the Russians
as soon as
it
was
discouraged him
do
safe to
so,
but Shamil
and
must have greatly

had with him a host
this
still
of devoted adherents, chiefly Daghestanis, several thousands

strong,
and
if
final effort
were to be made to retain a
hold over any part of Tchetchnia,

the
enemy had
the time before
securely established themselves
Yet Shamil did
present position.
oppose this
now was
fatal
little
Few
consummation.
or
in
their
nothing to
shots were fired,
no serious attacks were made, while day by day and week

by week the Russian axes rang through the frosty
air
a sound more ominous far than the rattle of their musketry

the thunder of their guns
or
and
thousands bowed their heads and
mountain
the forest trees by

crashing
fell
down
the
sides beneath the sturdy blows of the soldiers
of the Tsar.
There were beeches amongst them more than
280 feet in height and 35 feet in

forest giants
was
difficult
To fell
remove them
girth.
enough, to
these
after-
wards quite impossible, so they were burnt or blown up
where they
was made
1
lay.
to the
Gradually a clearing
1400 yards wide
summit of the Dargan Doukh, the ridge
Deedimoff, an eye-witness.
See his
articles, "
Expeditsia v Argounskoe
Oushtchelie, 15th January to 18th April 1858," and "Expeditsia v Tchanti

Argounskoe Oushtchelie, 1st July to 19th August 1858," in Voyenny Sbornik for
1859, from which
much
of the
above information
is
taken.

6000
on the right bank of the Sharo
feet above sea-level
Argoun, and
lo
465
the plateau of Veden, the
home
lay visible to the Russians less than 10 miles
of Shamil,
away
1
!
In other directions, likewise, the work of securing and

strengthening
ruptedly.
the newly-won position went
on uninter-
There, too, woods were cut down, bridges con-
made, and a
structed, roads
(Argounskoe) built in the
fort
fork of the rivers and rendered impregnable to Shamil's

feeble artillery,
commander was
by the middle of April, the Russian
till,
satisfied for the
a sufficient garrison in the
and Grozny
time being, and, leaving
fort, retired to
Vozdveezhenskoe
to complete his preparations for a farther ad-
vance and give the troops a much-needed rest after their

short but arduous winter campaign.
By
the end of June
was
all
ready,
and on the
July the columns once more entered the Argoun

this
time what a difference
and rivers bridged,

no enemy at hand
with the
first
was indeed
forests
1st of
defile,
excellent roads in all directions,

contest the passage.
to
but
cut down, ravines
The
and
contrast
entry into the defile only six months earlier
striking,
confidence in the
and enough in
commander and a
itself to justify full
belief in his further
success.
Beyond the limit of the former advance the Tchanti

Argoun again ran between steep and lofty banks intersected by gullies hundreds of feet deep and covered with
Through this difficult country lay

the more open ground at Shatoe, some
a tangle of forest trees.
the direct path to
10 miles distant, and so great were the natural obstacles

that in face of a determined
enemy an advance by
pronounced
impossible.
this
Yevdo-
might
keemofFs spies brought word that the enemy swarmed in
route
well
be
Akti,
xii. p.
1073.
2G
466
the forest in front of him, working with feverish energy at
earthworks, abattis, and chevaux de /rise, in the hope of
made
rendering absolutely impassable what Nature had
But the Eussian general was not of the school

with whom frontal attacks are the alpha and omega of
strategy.
Masking his intentions by ostentatious movements during three days on the right bank of the Tchanti
Argoun, he suddenly threw the bulk of his forces across
nearly so.
that river, and, storming with
known
valley
as the
little loss
the lofty heights
Miskin Doukh, descended into the
circular
occupied by the aouls of Lesser Varanda, the in-
habitants of which for the most part gladly gave in their
submission.
The next move was
to
recross
the
river
opposite the village of Zonakh, build a temporary fort there,
and convert the path between

skoe into a passable road.
this point
and Fort Argoun-
One-half of the gorge leading
to Shatoe was now held by the Eussians, and a precisely

similar movement .was soon to make them masters of the
bank once more,

siege was laid to the ridge between Lesser and Greater
Varanda. Again recourse was had to the axe, the pick, and
the spade, while more martial weapons were called into reremaining portion.
Crossing to the
quisition only in so far as they
left
were needed to guard the
working parties from the half-hearted attacks of the enemy.
The labour was
very great, for the mountain was steep and
high, the forest dense, the trees of gigantic size, nor
the heat of
summer
was
than the frost and snow of

But with a seasoned army and such
less trying
the preceding winter.
a leader there was no flagging.
By
the end of July
all
was
once more ready, and on the 30th of that month Shamil's

son,
Kazi Muhammad, who had been
the mortification of seeing the

drive the defending force
left in
command, had
Eussians cross the ridge,
from the aouls of Greater Varanda,
467
and storm the heights which separated them from the valley
which lay the numerous villages collectively known as
in
Shatoe.
After this there was practically no
resistance.
The
Russian advanced guard crossed the Tchanti Argoun and

occupied the promontory on which stands the present fort
and settlement of Shatoe
they next proceeded to establish
communications through the
direct
Fort Argounskoe, so that they

the Tchanti Argoun
burnt
all
pelling
all
the
now
way
the neighbouring aouls
fort at
held both banks of
to Shatoe.
still
Zonakh with
The Murids
in their hands, com-
the inhabitants, whenever possible, to join their
ranks, and
soon afterwards retreated to Vede"n, leaving
behind them a legacy of hatred, which effectually removed

all
further difficulty from the path of the invaders.
after the other all the aouls
Argoun
One
on either side of the Tchanti
up to the snowy range volunteered their

They even attacked Shamil's lieutenants and
drove out such Murids as remained. The inhabitants of
Eetoum Kale\ at the point where the Tchanti Argoun, after
running east for some miles, turns abruptly north, took
prisoner the naib, Hamzad, killed his brother, and sent
urgent messages to the Russians to come and take posTwo
session of the fort and its one piece of ordnance.
paltry companies of infantry marched quite unmolested to
the spot through the most savage of all the Argoun gorges,
Thus the
and were hailed by the people as deliverers
right
submission.
whole of the Upper Argoun

a shot
fired into the
fell
without a blow struck or
hands of the invaders, who thereby
acquired, in addition to the advantages already enumerated,
a new
line of
line of
communication with Transcaucasia, a new
approach to Daghestan.
eyed" general's name remains
To
this
identified
day the "three-
with the conquest
468
of the
Argoun
valley,
where Shamil's
name
has ever since borne the
fort at
Eetoum
of Yevdokeemovskoe.
Kale"
Wrangel, who had replaced Orbeliani, meantime made

another step westward from Daghestan and occupied part
of
Goumbet and
the rest of Aoukh, while Vrevsky repeated
and brought the Deedos to such ruin

Vrevsky
heart was taken out of their resistance.
his last year's incursion
that all
was mortally wounded
the
at
storming of the aoul of
and his successor,
Keetouree, but his work was done,
Prince Levan Melikoff,
when
he took part in the
in 1859
general advance, found his chief difficulties in the wild
and mountainous nature of the country.

It
was during the second Argoun expedition,
summer
in the
of 1858, that Shamil for the last time took the
offensive.
The people
of Nazran were under the immediate
and the high privilege of bearing

had
been conferred upon them in
the banner of St. George
reward of their former conspicuous loyalty. But now, just
when the native cause was finally lost, they revolted, and, as
usual in the many insurrectionary movements that have
rule of a Russian preestaff,
taken place in the Caucasus, the fault lay with the Russians,
who
for greater ease of administration
the Ingoushee from
many
had decided
to gather
small aouls and scattered farms
into a few large settlements. 2
The necessary
orders were
given, with the natural result of rousing the strongest dis-
content and
offer
Messengers were despatched to
opposition.
Shamil allegiance and beg his help, while
itself the inhabitants rose in
straggling soldiers, and
on the
at
Nazran
open rebellion, killed several
made more than one fruitless attempt
Shamil eagerly seized the opportunity
fort.
diversion thus
unexpectedly
Akti,
xii. p.
1110
Akti,
xii. p.
1082.
offered,
for a
crossed the Tchanti
YevdokeemofFs Journal.
469
Argoun under the fire of YevdokeemofFs guns, and plunged

boldly down towards the plains.
But at Atchkoi on the
9th June he was defeated with some loss, and, failing to
reach Nazran by a more circuitous route, retired across
the Argoun. Meantime Slieptsovskaya on the east and
Vladikavkaz on the west had heard the alarm guns at
Nazran at noon, and by evening of the same day six sotnias
of cavalry, two battalions of infantry, and six guns were concentrated at the beleaguered
the rebellion repressed.
fort,
The
the garrison relieved, and
four
chief ringleaders were
hanged on the kourgan crowning a conspicuous hill some

2 versts away, and forty children were taken to Vladikavkaz as hostages for the good behaviour of their parents.
Here they were kept in a house which was practically a

prison, and both crowded and dirty, with the natural result
that
when
own
country
after
it
long absence the survivors returned to their
was with minds debauched and hearts
filled
with hatred of their oppressors.

Six weeks later Shamil,
still
hoping that such a diversion
would constrain the Russians to retreat, made another dash

4000 horsemen, but Yevdokeemoff
had timely notice of the movement the garrison was again
reinforced, and Shamil and his band, on debouching from
at Nazran at the head of
the hills into the valley of the Soundja, instead of surprising
the Russians, as they expected, were immediately attacked
and completely defeated by Colonel Meeshtchenko, the same

day that Yevdokeemoff stormed the heights of Varanda and
thereby gained Shatoe (30th July). The Murids left 370
dead on the
field of battle, together
with 1500 weapons of
various kinds, whereas the Russian loss was only 16 killed
and 24 wounded. 1
1
After ShamiPs fall large numbers of the Ingoushee, and notably the clan
as the Karaboulaks, who have left their name to a Cossack stanitsa,
known
470
The
first
quarter of 1859 brought with
a success as great as
it
vestment were drawing
mighty
fortress,
it
The
was unexpected.
closer,
for the
Kussians
lines of in-
and the approaches to the
whose walls were mountain ranges, whose
trenches were abysmal chasms, were nearing completion.
The
final assault
was to be delivered in the course of the
All three columns were to set out simultaneously
summer.
though independently in the middle of July, but the main

attack was to be delivered by the united forces of
Wrangel
and Yevdokeemoff advancing from Bourtounai through

Goumbet, leaving Ved^n untouched on their right. The
way was to be prepared to some extent by winter expedinorthern fringe of Shamil's remaining
against the
tions
dominions
Tchetchnia,
in
but
the
"Three-eyed
One,"
whether led on by the fortunes of war or of deliberate

intent,
none knew, did that which had found no place in

Moving cautiously from
Bariatinsky's plan of campaign.

his base at Vozveezhenskoe,
he took with ease the heights
of Tauzen, and advanced to Veden.
Still
acting with the
greatest circumspection, he gradually completed the invest-
ment of that
months'
place,
siege,
took
and on the
it
1st of April, after a
two
by assault with quite insignificant
who had been hovering in the neighbourhood, retired southward an easier way was now open than
through Goumbet and Yevdokeemoff, raised by his grateful
loss.
Shamil,
sovereign to the dignity of a count of the Empire, instead

of merely joining hands with
Wrangel
at Bourtounai,
the honour of leading the main. attack by
and the Andee
way
had
of Khorotchoi
lakes.
Prince Bari&tinsky's report to the
Emperor
at the con-
took part in the emigration of the Muhammadan tribes to Turkey, while thosa
who remained have since acquired an evil reputation as the most daring highway
robbers and assassins in the Caucasus.
1 Akti, xii.
p. 1136: YevdokeemofFs Journal.
General Count Yevdokeemoef
471
elusion of the
insight into
war gives in the following passages some

Yevdokeemoffs character and methods, and
the
for
reasons
the
success
compared with the failures

"Yevdokeemoff never once
meant
of fighting where they
might have been on their
of
as a
result
to
fell
all his
means
tions
with
chance
strongest positions
almost without resist-
In
movements only.
and Tchokh,
of them not even successful,
for a
cost us only twenty- six killed
things
writes
Ghergh^bil,
cost us thousands, the capture of
concentrated
The
side.
Saltee,
the sieges of which, some
He
past.
and where the advantage
of well-planned
Akhoulg<5,
contrast to
the
gave the enemy a
held by Shamil and his hordes
ance
present operations
the
of
Veden, where Shamil had
most determined resistance,
and wounded.
Three
a systematic conduct of the war, the able

of the chief
and the arming of the troops
a minireduced our
the Caucasus
disposi-
leaders,
losses in
rifles
mum, and
this, in turn,
to
coupled with the fact that engage-
ments were decided by
tactical
cause of our success.
The mountaineers were not
frightened by fighting.
movements, was the chief

to be
Constant warfare had given them
such confidence, that a few score
men would engage without

firing
one
shot to a hundred would occasion us more loss than
we
hesitation a
column several battalions
strong,
and
Fighting implies some sort of equality, and, so long
them.
as they could fight, the
enemy had no thought
of submission.
But when, time after time, they found that, in fact, they
could never come to blows, their weapons fell from their
Beaten, they would have gathered again on the
hands.
morrow.
Circumvented and forced
fighting, while their valleys

sition,
to
disperse
without
were occupied without oppo-
they came in next day and offered their submission.
Shamil's power was undermined by nothing so
much
as
by
472
men who had
gatherings of
fruitless
homes without anywhere
campaigning and the
of numerous populations,
all
the war."
The
count among the
your Majesty's faithful soldiers
least costly in the blood of
of
These
offering serious defence.
last three years, in spite of constant
subjugation
to disperse to their
results
of the
fall
of
The
morally than materially.
Ved^n were even
greater
preparations for the
final
summer campaign were only completed during the first

fortnight of July, up to when there had been little more
fighting
but by that time the invaders had none the
made most
significant progress;
became convinced of
Russia's
for,
less
one by one, as they
power to protect them, the
remaining Tchetchen communities gave in their submission,
and were, according
homes
to circumstances, either left in their
or deported wholesale to the northern plains.
way Tchaberloi,
Aoukh the former
this
Itche"ria,
In
and the upper portion of
inhabited by the
inaccessible of the Tchetchen tribes
most savage and
away from Shamil.

In the far south the Avars dwelling in Antsoukh and some
other districts on the northern slopes of the main chain
likewise surrendered.
Many of Shamil's most prominent
fell
naibs submitted with the peoples over
whom
they ruled
Daniel, Sultan of Elisou, was negotiating his second
of treachery, this time in favour of Russia

all,
and
even Keebeet Mahoma, the sturdy Kadi of
realised the utter futility of further
own
only proffered his
resistance.
to
act
crown
Tilitl,
had
He
not
submission, but in proof of sin-
cerity arrested Asian,
Kadi of Tsoudakhar, the most fervent
preacher
Muridism.
still left
Bariatinsky
to
joined
Veddn, and the
On
Yevdokeemoff
in
advance began.
final
1
Akti,
xii. p.
1275.
the 14th July Prince

his
camp beyond
The
total strength
473
of the three columns, not yet united, was 38 battalions,

7 squadrons, and 40 sotnias, with 48 guns
altogether about
40,000 men.
Shamil meantime had not been idle. His attitude in

this hour of trial commanded the admiration even of
his enemies.
The rapid and numerous successes of the
Russians,
the
defection of his
own
people, the
loss
of
whole provinces, the vastness of the military preparations

against him, and the patent fact that they were guided at
last
by one who had the
must have convinced
was
at
hand.
all
will
and the power to crush him,
but the wilfully blind that the end
But, as ever in the day of adversity, his
spirit rose to the occasion, his
courage remained undaunted.
All that could be done to avert disaster he did.
from the forest-clad
1839 and chief abode ever
Driven
Tchetchnia, his sure refuge in
hills of
since,
he took once more to the
bare and lofty plateau of his native Daghestan, and set to
work with undiminished energy and sagacity to stem the

tide of invasion.
Taking his stand at Itchikalee, he
fortified that place and others north of the Andee Koisou,
and prepared
to
defend the passage of that river both
against Wrangel's column and YevdokeemofFs, calling for
was in vain. Yevdokeemoff

mounted the Andee range and camped successively at the
1
and
little lake of Yani-am, the large one of Esen-am,
again the small one of Ardji-am, on the slope of the
and no sooner were the
range overlooking Botlikh
a levy en masse.
But
all
Russian bayonets
seen glittering above the valley of the
Andee Koisou than a veritable debacle set in. Those of the

Tchaberloi who had been transplanted by Shamil to Avaria
sent a deputation to Bariatinsky begging to be allowed to
return to their
homes under Russian

1
protection,
Retlo, Forelnoe Ozero, Trout Lake.
and
offer-
474
ing unconditional submission.
were safely brought across the
ment of Russians and
their
own
On
the 25th July they
river
by a mixed detach-
tribesmen, already enrolled
as militia in spite of an attempt to prevent

naib, Debeer.
it
by Shamil's
Next day the same thing was repeated with
the exiles from Andee, this time under the very eyes of
Shamil's incompetent son, Kazi
Muhammad, who,
hearing,
no doubt, that Wrangel had crossed the river to the east

and threatened his line of retreat, abandoned Itchikalee with
its new-made fortifications and eleven guns, and likewise
the vast fortified
camp on the
left
Konkhidatl, the remains of which are
bank of the
river at
visible.
With-
still
out a blow he retired to Kar&ta, leaving Avaria open.
Wrangel's advance guard had reached the Andee Koisou
on the 15th July and secured the passage at Sagritl between Tchinkat and Igalee. Crossing the river, he fought
up the heights of Akhkent

on the 22nd, and no sooner was he established there than
the whole of Koisoubou and Avaria, where no Russian save
prisoners or renegades had been seen since the dark days of
1843, submitted without a murmur.
his
way against
To the
slight opposition
east a subsidiary column, leaving
Shoura on the
14th, had captured the tower of Bouroundouk Kale\ and

lay encamped on the right bank of the Avar Koisou between
Irganai and Ziri&ni.
Finally, Levan Melikoff, after some fighting, had com-
pelled the submission
of the Deedos
and on the 5th
August, undeterred by the most formidable natural obstacles,
he joined Baridtinsky
at Botlikh.
The three armies were now in touch, and

had ceased.
Oullou Kala, the strong
sition
all
fort
oppo-
near
had surrendered voluntarily on the 24th July,

impregnable Tchokh the same day. On the 28th Keebeet
GhergheHbil,

Mahoma
475
appeared at Golotl, and himself led the Russian
advance guard under General Rakous to his native stronghold
Tilitl,
seeing which all the communities of the upper
Avar Koisou made haste
who had already surrendered
Ireeb and his other fortresses, rode in to Bariatinsky's
and
at Botlikh to beg,
camp
receive, pardon.
Shamil meantime seeing that

of his power falling about
warrior hosts melted
On
to tender their submission.
the 7th August Daniel Sultan,
away
him
was
all
like a
lost,
snow from
like the
the fabric
house of cards, his

their native
mountains, fled from Karata with his wives and children,

escorted only by a small band of his most intimate and
devoted adherents, and by a roundabout way reached his

last refuge,
fallen
Gouneeb.
the road, as
the baggage
condition,
dreaded Imam,
On
a homeless fugitive, was
attacked and partly pillaged by the

for its gross
emphasise his
and treasure train of the
now once more
community noted
if to
women
of Akhvakh, a
1
and savage customs.
The
fugitives were again attacked near Roudja before reaching

their destination,
and deprived of
on their persons
loyal,
all
but what they carried
but the dwellers on Gouneeb were
and with them and
his
own
little
still
band, amounting
together to no more than 400 men, the indomitable chieftain

set
work
to
to
render that mountain stronghold as far
But remembering the past, he

declaimed sorrowfully the verses of an Arab poet " I had
brothers whom I looked upon as coats of chain mail lo
they have become mine enemies I counted them as sharp
as possible impregnable.
arrows such indeed they were, but arrows that have pierced
my heart." On the 9th August Wrangel arrived, and the
:
Including a predilection for raw meat and an unmentionable complaisance
in the matter of hospitality.

2
At the instigation, it is said, of Keebeet
Mahoma.
476
The following day Prince Bariatinsky with

Yevdokeemoff and his staff, escorted by a small body of
siege began.
Russian and native cavalry,

spection
through
the
Botlikh on a tour of in-
left
submitted
territory,
which rapidly
assumed the aspect of a triumphal progress.

the river near Tlokh, where Hadji Mourad's
presented to him,
Ashilta.
he visited Igalee,
Sagritl,
Crossing
widow was
Tchinkat, and
Passing the night of the 13th at that aoul, he
rode on to Ountsoukoul and Ghimree.
from his Russian
wrought in the
escort,
last
so
great
was the change
few days, that he continued the tour
accompanied only by his
bou and Avaria.
and
There he parted
and some natives of Koisou-
staff
Ascending the heights of Akhkent, on
the 14th he was at Tanous, on the 15th at
Khounzakh,
where he confirmed the restoration of the Avar Khanate.
Two
days later he met Keebeet
Mahoma
at
and
Golotl,
accompanied him to
That night he bivouacked
graciously accepting his invitation,

Tilitl
and dined in his house.
the foot of the Saddle or Portmanteau (Tchemodan)
at
Mountain, and
on 18th August, after visiting Roudja

and Tchokh, joined Wrangel in his camp on the Kegher
heights overlooking Gouneeb, having everywhere met,
not merely with submission, but with a hearty and even
enthusiastic welcome. 1
The nature of Shamil's
last refuge will best
from the accompanying plan
(p.
478).
be gathered
The contour
lines
bring out clearly the perpendicular escarpments that crown
rocky walls, rising abruptly on every side to a height of

from 3000 to 5000 feet, while the western extremity is no
its
less
than 7718 feet above
the surface
1
is
more or
Bariatinsky' s report to the
p. 1172.
less
War
sea-level.
Within these walls
deeply hollowed out, with a

Minister of the 22nd August
Akti
xii

central ridge running
down from
477
the culminating point.
Completely isolated from the chaos of mountains around

it,
abundantly supplied with fresh water, and capable of
growing barley,
and garden produce
oats, hay,
siderable extent, Gouneeb, in days
to a con-
when long range guns
were unknown, was a natural stronghold, wanting only an

adequate garrison to be as nearly impregnable as can be,
and Eussian writers may be forgiven

the difficulties
on
But a moment's consideration
presented.
it
for expatiating
must convince any one of the utter hopelessness of Shamil's

attempt to defend it with no more than 400 men. As a
matter of fact
whole
is
it
was
scaled by companies,
battalions, in ten different
enough
places
at
to point out that counting every
garrison there
would only be
columns, or parties,
the outer ridge
if all
and even by
once,
man
and
it
of the
of
forty to each of the storming
them had been stationed on
they would have been scattered, more-
round a perimeter of 20 versts in ten groups, each

With 4000 men Gouneeb might
isolated from all the rest.
over,
well have been impregnable
with 400, a successful defence
was out of all question. One of the columns at least was

bound to succeed in gaining the crest, and then the whole
defending force would be required at one point, leaving
the rest exposed.
Shamil's tent was pitched on the middle plateau facing

the narrow eastern extremity of the mountain overlooking the
Kara Koisou, and, when Bari&tinsky rode in, he must have

seen the stir in the Russian camp and heard the ringing
cheers of the soldiery as they welcomed their beloved and
triumphant
chief.
Dark and
bitter,
doubtless, were
his
thoughts, yet not without some mitigation. Thirty years

had passed since, fired by religious enthusiasm and love
of liberty (or, as the Russians have it, of fanaticism and
478
license)
he had raised with Kazi Moulla the standard of
Holy War.
the
evil fortune,
During
all
that time, through good
and
he had remained faithful to the Cause and to
he had served him

with a rare devotion, and it was only by little less than
a miracle that he had failed to share his fate. During
himself.
While the
Hamzad's
Imam
first
lived
he had shown equal
brief rule
fidelity,
though
he might justly have claimed the succession himself. Chief

of the Faithful since 1834, he had achieved an astonishing
measure of success, and the merit was mostly his own.
Now, when three decades of ceaseless strife against the

colossal might of Eussia had brought him face to face
with complete and final failure, his conscience acquitted
him of blame, and with that verdict the impartial historian
must agree; for though the one grave fault we must lay
immediately to
to his charge, that of cruelty, contributed
his downfall, the
main and ultimate causes were beyond
his control.
Muridism,
we have
Tarikat.
began in a movement aiming

on the mystic doctrines of the
seen,
at religious reform, based
But mysticism
is
for individuals,
and can never
shape the faith or control the destinies of nations.
As
movement spread, its leaders soon saw that for the

mass of their followers they must restrain their teaching
the
to the practical rules of the Shariat
and from the moment
that they aimed at political independence
it
was
inevitable
that the worldly element should gradually dominate the

spiritual,
and the law of
with
author,
its
the
ambitions.
The
writers are
no more
Muhammad
instrument of
become, as indeed
earthly
desires
and
process was a natural one, and Russian

justified in accusing the
Murid leader
of hypocrisy on this account, than they are in

patriotism to the mountaineers because
denying
their conception

of
was limited
it
for the
most part
to the
479
narrow bounds
of the communities into which from time immemorial they
had been
divided.
Shamil had
had
failed because success
was impossible.
He
to contend from the beginning not only against Russia
but against a far worse foe
internal dissension
and from
the nature of the circumstances he could overcome neither
Had
the one nor the other.
the whole of the Caucasus
been inhabited by one people, it would, doubtless, under

such a leader have withstood any external force that
could be directed against
As
it.
it
was, the partial success
that rewarded his efforts towards unity was due
he was
solely to the fact that
all
almost
the time carrying on the
heroic struggle for independence; for nothing else would
have constrained the
fierce
mountaineers to bear with so
dark a tyranny.
Yet in the end, by the irony of Fate,

all that he wrought and suffered.
Shamil himself was the first to see this, and in after years,
Russia alone benefited by
when
a captive at Kalouga, he claimed the merit of having,
by his administrative measures and their merciless enforce

ment,
it
had
made
cost
it
easy for his conquerors to hold in peace what
them
accustomed the
so
much
to
win
for
he had to some degree
tribes to habits of discipline, teaching
to fight together in a
common
pressing their mutual hostility.
run
-,
paradoxical
as
it
them
cause while rigorously reIt follows that in the long
must sound
Muridism
was the
instrument, not the enemy, of Russian domination.
To what extent
actions
it
personal ambition inspired Shamil's
were idle to inquire.
His avowed object was
to achieve national independence, and to bring this within
the bounds of possibility he saw, with the comprehensive

glance of true statesmanship, that the only means was the
union of
all
the tribes in blind obedience to the law of
480
the Shariat and to his
To compass
own commands.
this
neglected no opportunity, stopped short

at no measures, however severe.
He attained a measure of
success great indeed, yet less in reality than in appearance
he spared no
for
effort,
even at the height of his power, when brilliant victories
in the field had thrown a temporary glamour over his rule,
the elements of discord were

for the
moment under
still
present,
though hidden
To
a seemingly untroubled surface.
maintain his authority he was driven to acts of the most

merciless cruelty, and the apostle of Liberty became, as
Even
elsewhere, the most despotic of Tyrants.
have been borne had he retained
this
might
the power in his
all
own
hands, but, delegated to a large extent to his son, Kazi

Muhammad, to his favourite naibs and to others of his crea-
was abused beyond the limits of human endurance,

Add to
at least that of the wild and savage mountaineers.
not an aoul, not a house
this the strain of the long war
but had lost husbands, fathers, brothers; whole families
tures, it
exterminated, whole villages destroyed, whole communities
decimated
fruit-trees
the
fields
untended
untilled,
all this in
vines undressed, the
the
Daghestan, his
own
country,
mandate ran unchallenged; and in the

lowlands of Tchetchnia it was worse, for there the unhappy
people were harried and despoiled alternately by friend and
where at
foe.
If
last his
we
consider, finally, the effect of Shamil's severity,
of the blood feud, and of the lavish use of gold in furnish-
ing Russia with an unlimited supply of native auxiliaries

scouts, guides, light cavalry in the field
in the enemy's
camp
we
shall have
no
spies
and
traitors
difficulty in realis-
ing that Shamil's was indeed a lost cause; nor shall
we
wonder that in the course of thirty years of foreign warfare

and domestic tyranny Muridism, losing first its religious
influence, lost also in the long
run
its political
attraction
THE CONQUEST OP THE CAUCASUS

that
men and women through
481
the length and breadth of
Daghestan and Tchetchnia, driven to despair by penury

and oppression, threw off at last with joy a burden above
their strength,
and bent their necks contentedly to the
Russian yoke.
Standing on the rocky brow of Gouneeb that August
day Shamil
was
knew
lost past
that the end
redemption
had come, that
but his proud
this time
he
could not
spirit
brook the thought of surrender, and, rejecting the proffered

mediation of Daniel Sultan and others, he prepared to
defend himself to the
But
was not
it
last
and
On
to be.
sword in hand.
die
the eve of the Emperor's
birthday, the 25th August, Bariatinsky, having completed
and in the
his preparations, gave orders for the assault,
grey of early morning, favoured by the mist, the eager
swarmed over the moun-
battalions led by native guides
on every
tain parapet
side,
and joined hands on the upper
Shamil retreated to the aoul.
plateau.
hundred of the Murids, surrounded
by the triumphant
Russians, fought like heroes and died to a

a handful of
them who attempted
of the Apsheron
men were
In one place a
man
to stop the
all killed,
in another
onward rush
and with them three
women, who showed more than the fury of their husbands

and brothers. The end had come but Bariatinsky, anxious,
;
if possible,
to take Shamil
alive,
ceeding to storm the aoul to

surrender.
It is
gave orders before pro-
make
every effort to induce
probable that had Shamil been alone he
would have defied his enemies to the last, and died as Kazi
Moulla died at Ghimree but with him were his wives and
his children, and those of the faithful villagers. If an assault
took place he knew well that most, if not all, of them would
;
perish.
He was
daunted at
adherents to treat for terms
last.
;
He
sent out two of his
the answer naturally enough
2h
482
was a demand
Lazareff,
aoul,
for unconditional surrender
who knew him
made
personally,
and promising that his own
life
then Colonel
way
his
and the
to the
lives of all
him to give
in.
In a tumult of conflicting emotions he mounted his
horse and rode forth, but had gone but a little way when
the Russian soldiers, seeing their lifelong enemy at last in
their hands, set up a ringing cheer. Shamil blenched, drew
rein, and turned to regain the aoul
but the wily Armenian
him should be
those with
spared, persuaded
dashed
after
him, and calling out, with ready wit, that the
cheering was only a

again.
mark
of honour, induced
Followed by about
fifty
remnant of his once mighty
wood where
on a
of the Murids, the sole
hosts,
he rode towards the
Bariatinsky, surrounded by his
his conqueror,
he answered
staff, sat
who, addressing him by name,
for his personal safety
but he had refused terms
now depend on
his
to turn
waiting
Shamil dismounted and was led to the
stone.
bowed
him
when
offered,
the will of the Emperor.
head in
silence,
told
and that of
and was led
and
feet of
him
all else
The
that
his family
stern
off captive.
must
Imam
Next
day he was sent to Shourd, and thence to Eussia, where,

later on, his family
was allowed to join him. 1
1
The Russian losses in the assault and capture of Gouneeb were 21 killed
and 159 wounded and contused. Of the Murids, 50 were left alive out of 400.
Shamil dwelt at Kalouga in honourable confinement until 1869, when at his
own request he was transferred to Kief. The next year he was allowed to
make the pilgrimage to Mecca. He died at Medina on the 4th February 1871
p
o
b
W
O
&
3
w
APPENDIX
i
The Song of the Death op Khotchbar

(From General
"
messenger came from the Avar Khan
of Ghedatl.
"
'
"
'
Go
to
summon Khotchbar
Shall I go to Khounzakh, oh,

not,
lasts
spilt
Velar's Russian version
my
long
darling, go not
the
Khans
my
The
may
mother
grief for blood that
they perish
set traps
is
for
men.'
"
Not
go or the vermin of Khounzakh will think

the despised Noutsal will call me a coward.'
" So Khotchbar rode to Khounzakh, driving before him an
ox, a gift for the Khan
a ring he took with him to give the
'
that I fear
so, I will
them
Khan's
"
wife.
Noutsal of Avaria
'
Hail
'
Khotchbar
"
Thou
art here,
come at last, oh
oh enemy of the
While the Noutsal and Khotchbar were
talking, the crier
of Ghedatl, hail
wolf that rendest the sheep
Avars
"
Thou
art
cried aloud
"
'
Let him who has a cart bring pine- wood from the forest
1
The present writer heard this song recited in a robber castle deep in the
wild country of the Kists, to the east of the Georgian road.
2 Ghedatl, or Gheed, was an Avar community to the south of the khanate,
and, owing to its favourable situation in a wide basin surrounded on all sides
by mountains, with a comparatively good climate and fertile soil, one of the
strongest and most flourishing. The inhabitants were frequently at war with
their cousins of Akhvakh and of the khanate, and extended their frontier at
the former's expense.
They were noted
for their
horned cattle and farm pro-
duce, which they sold to their neighbours and to the Russian garrisons. The
name is now only given to a small aoul near the left bank of the Avar Koisou,
Bogos range, having three peaks of over 13,000

Moulla's paternal grandfather was a native of Ghedatl.
at the foot of the
feet.'
Kazi
484
above the aoul let him who has none load his ass with it let
him who has neither arba nor donkey carry it on his own back
Our enemy Khotchbar has fallen into our hands let us build
a pyre and burn him
" The crier ceased, and six men sprang upon Khotchbar, and
bound him. On the long hill-side of Khounzakh they made
such a blaze that the very rock grew red-hot beneath it. They
;
brought Khotchbar to tbe fire they brought to it his gallant

bay steed they slaughtered it with their swords they broke in
twain his sharp-pointed spear, and threw the pieces into the
flames
the hero winked never an eye
"
Come now, Khotchbar, sing us something it is said thou
art a master of song.
Play us somewhat on the lime-wood
cithern it is said thou playest well
"
Well indeed can I sing but my mouth is gagged. Well
indeed can I play; but my hands are bound.'
" The young men cried that Khotchbar should be loosed
but the old men said, Wolf-deeds we fear from a wolf
" The young men had their way
the hero was unbound.
"
Listen now, men of Khounzakh I will sing you a song
;
'
'
'
'
and thou, oh Khan, interrupt

(He
"
me
not.'
sings to the citliem.)
Who
but I clambered in through your window, and carried

your favourite wife ? Who but I took the
silver bracelets from the white arms of your complaisant sisters
Who but I cut the throat of your tame Tour 1 There, above,
are the sheepfolds who drove the sheep away ? why are they
empty ? There, below, is the stable who drove the horses off ?
Where are they now ? Lo, on the housetops, the widows Who
killed their husbands and made them such ?
Orphans I see
around me
Who slew their sires and orphaned them ? None
can count the number of those who have died by my hand, in
the fields in the forest
I have slaughtered no less than three'
off the silk trousers of
men of your tribe

These are deeds, oh Noutsal, worthy
Fame but to take a man by fraud and kill him what shall
score
of
we say
"
of that
While Khotchbar sang and played, the two

1
Mountain
goat, Capra Gaucasica.
little
sons of
APPENDIX
the
Khan came round and
485
Snatching them up
sat at his feet.
suddenly, one in each hand, the hero leapt into the flames.
"'Why
Do
ye Noutsal cubs.
shriek,
I burn with
not
you?
"
Why
'
"
'
Alas
for
my
'
Weep
'
Let not
"
7"
too love the Light
gallant bay, that trampled so oft the heels
Alas for my pointed lance, that pierced

the breasts of the Noutsal's henchmen
of the flying Avars

full oft
"
Did not
squeal, ye piglings.
!
not,
mother mine
my
not vainly your darling dies
sisters greet
I perish gloriously
"There was scraping of viols and beating of drums, from

till noon
Khotchbar of Ghedatl was taken
" There was weeping and wailing when noon was past
the
Avar princes had perished in the flames
morn
The date
of this occurrence, historical, no doubt, as to
the main facts,
is
unknown. The reference to a pine-wood

Khounzakh argues considerable anti-
in close proximity to
quity
for not a tree of
memory
in the
any
of man.
sort
The
grows near, nor has done

barrenness, indeed, of the
neighbourhood is, after the chasm into which the Tobot

plunges just below the aoul, its most striking feature. The
whole song is highly characteristic Khotchbar's pride and
courage
when
his stoical firmness
killed, his trusty spear
death-song, with
broken
his favourite horse
string of insults, based
its
purposely exaggerated
are
the utmost the admiration
all
is
the vaunting strain of his
on
truth, but
of a nature to excite to
of the
mountaineers, and at
the final catastrophe their enthusiasm knows no bounds.

It
is
not
difficult
to
imagine Hadji Mourad in similar

Khotchbar is said to
circumstances behaving exactly as
have done.
II
What
Hadji Mourad and his companions sang on this

occasion is unknown, but the following " Song of the
Death of Hamzad
"
gives
a vivid
picture
of a similar
486
and
scene,
poetry
interesting
is
as
specimen
of Tchetchen
The white hawk,

with her talons. She
beak in blood.
"
flying,
seizes
overtakes her prey and seizes it

and straightway bathes her
it
The spotted
panther, swift of foot, overtakes his quarry and

with his mighty claws.
" The bold Hamzad, with the gallant horsemen of Ghikh,
crosses to the left bank of the Terek and leaves the river behind him.
" The brave Hamzad has crossed the Terek and entered the
Nogai Steppes. He has captured a herd of white horses and
recrossed the Terek, driving it before him.
" At the dawn of day he crossed it and drove the herd into
"
tears
it
the brushwood of Shirvan, on the Hill of the Tcherkess.

"
There was danger by day, and the riders were
tired.
They
halted at Shirvan-Koulee and hid their spoil in the thicket.

" When he had hidden his booty and his companions in the
Hamzad
ascended a high Kourgan, and looked through

the Russians were coming.
" Hamzad looks and sees a numerous band darkening the
As fast as black clouds
place where he had forded the T6rek.
driven by the wind that band comes galloping on his traces.
" Seeing the multitude he went down from the Kourgan and
wood,
his glass to see
if
They follow as fast as the wind follows

we will fight like famished leopards.'
" And again he said unto them
We will slaughter the horses
and the cattle, and surround ourselves with them as with a
rampart.
So shall we be able to defend ourselves.'
" His companions joyfully gave their consent.
They cut the
throats of the horses and stabbed the horned cattle and made a
said to his
companions
the clouds.
Be not
'
afraid,
'
strong fence round about them.

"
'
And
The Naib
with his
"
again
Hamzad
of Ghikh,
men on
spoke to his companions and said

Akhverdi Mahoma, stands likewise no doubt
the hill-top.
When
he hears the noise of our fighting with the Russians

will
fly
to
our aid like a bird of the air.'
he
But this he said
but to hearten his companions.
"Hamzad sat down with his riders behind the bloody
breastwork and ordered one to keep watch on the enemy.
The
'
sentinel stands gazing earnestly.
APPENDIX
And
"
Prince
lo
487
a horseman gallops out in front of the crowd
Kagherman
Prince's people are
and
you
coming within
hail
cries
The warder answers never a word, but transmits
"
'What
out,
the question
Hamzad: 'Prince Kagherman wishes to know what prince's

people we are.'
" Brave Hamzad went out from behind the breastwork and
to
drew near to the horseman.

What do you want of us ?
To
know what prince's people you are
" Hamzad laughed.
We know no princes nor want to we
are riders from Ghikh, and came for spoil.'
'Art thou not
Hamzad ? asked Kagherman.
I am Hamzad
"
It's a pity, Hamzad, that you came here.
A Russian
band has overtaken you
overtaken and surrounded you.
Unless you can grow wings as of migrant birds and fly up in
the air, you cannot escape.
The Russian commander has sent
me he will spare you, if you surrender without fighting.'
" To this Hamzad answered
I came not here, oh Kagherman,
for want of money
I came to win the death of the Ghazavat.
And were I to surrender to thee, all the people of Ghikh would
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
laugh
me
to scorn.
'"As a wolf
tired
and hungry longs
reach the
to
my
companions
all
so do
unto death.
I fear
thy force for our hope is in
thirst for the fight
Kagherman I laugh at
God, the all-powerful.'
thee,
forest, as
meadow
Nor do
a horse unfed and mettlesome the fresh clean
" And again Hamzad said to Kagherman

Ever we sought
booty and gold, but for such a day as this there is nothing so
precious as the beautiful black powder.'
" And again he said
Gold is not money to-day to-day the
trusty Crimean flint is pure gold.'
" Kagherman went back to the Russian commander and told
him that Hamzad refused to surrender. And Hamzad returned
to his rampart and sat down with his companions.
" Then the troops came up and began firing
and Hamzad
:
'
'
and his riders fired back.

" Thick was the smoke of their firing, and Hamzad said
So hot it is, that we have no shade
May this day be accursed
'
but that of our swords.'

"And again he said How thick is the smoke,
day
Our only light is the flash of our guns.'
:
'
how dark
the
488
And
The Houris
companions
windows in Heaven and
wonder they dispute together whose they shall be and she who
and she
falls to the braver of us will vaunt it before her friend
"
again
of Paradise look
Hamzad
said to his
down on us from
'
their
who
the less brave will blush for shame she will close
the lattice on him and turn away and if any of you plays the
coward this day may his face be black when he stands before
falls to
God
*
!
" But Hamzad thought in his heart the while that death
was upon him ; he could hope no more.
" High in the heavens he saw the birds flying and called
to them
Oh, birds of the air
Give our last greeting, our
ultimate salutation, to the Na'ib of Ghikh, Akhverdi Mahomd.
Greet also from us the beautiful ones, the damsels fair, and tell
them that our proud breasts serve to stop Russian bullets tell
them that our wish was to rest after death in the graveyard at
Ghikh, where our sisters would have wept on our tombs, and all
the people would have sorrowed
but God grants no such grace.
Not the sobbing of our sisters will be heard above us but the
'
howling of famished wolves. Not relations in troops will gather

round, but a flock of ravens swart.
"
And tell them too, on the Tcherkess hill, in the land of the
Giaour, bare blades in hand, we lie dead.
The ravens pick out
our eyes, the wolves tear our flesh.'
'
The Russian
more than
once seen tears in the eyes of even the most staid amongst
the Tchetchens when listening to the song of Hamzad,
who was an Abrek (outlaw) from one of the aouls on the
He
Terek.
fled
translator tells us that he has
to the
mountains in the early years of
Muridism, and as leader of small raiding parties continually

troubled the Cossack Line, where, thanks to his dauntless
courage and thorough knowledge of the

were nearly always successful.
locality, his raids
Another Tchetchen death-song may be rendered

follows
"
will dry on my grave,

Mother, my Mother
thou wilt forget me
The earth
And
as
APPENDIX
And
me
over
489
rank grasses wave,
Father, iny Father
Nor
wilt thou regret
When
me
tears cease thy dark eyes to lave,
Sister,
No more
dear Sister
will grief fret thee
my
But thou,
Brother the Elder, wilt never forget,
With vengeance denied me
And
my
thou,
Till
thou
Brother the Younger, wilt ever regret

liest
beside
me
Hotly thou earnest, oh death-bearing

For thou was my Slave
ball that I spurned,
And
thou,
black
that
earth,
my
trampled and
battle-steed
churned,
Wilt cover
my
grave
Cold art Thou, oh Death, yet I was thy Lord and Master
My body sinks fast to earth my Soul to Heaven flies faster."
!
The supreme confidence

of blood
is
in the brother as the avenger
worthy of note.
Ill
SHAMIL'S PSALM
Composed by Him to Replace all Profane Songs
Translated
from
the
Russian version of Professor Mirza Alexander

is also responsible for the notes
Kazem-Bek, who
Oh, servants of God, people of God

us, in the name of God
Give us your help.
Maybe we shall succeed by the mercy of God
For the sake of Allah, servants of God,
Help us for the sake of God.
Help
1
Those addressed are the Spirits of the Just (Awliya) many names are
mentioned in the Tarikat, and collectively they are known as Rijalu 'Uah =
;
God's people.
490

ye Aktab,
ye Audat,
Abdal, ye Asiad, 1
Help us, help us,
Ye
And
intercede before
God
For the sake of Allah, &c, &c.
To whom
shall
we
turn, but to
We have none but you

We look for happiness from
you
you
alone,
sainted ones, people of God.
For the sake of Allah,
We
&e., &c.
prayed to the people of God.
They increased the sufferings of the enemy

They are the true Gate of the Path
And that is the Gate we seek.
Oh
God, for the sake of thy saints

Grant the end we desire
That happiness may smile upon us
That we may rest in God. 2
Oh, Ta-Ha, oh, Ya-Sin,
Oh, Ha-Mim, oh, Ta-Sm
1
Aktab = the poles, Audat = links, connections, &c. The name Abdal is
given in the Tarikat to the seventy chosen by God out of the number of those
who have attained perfection. "Without them the world cannot exist it is
they who govern the invisible world of Spirits, in relation to which the physical
;
but a mere expression. Forty Abdal were allotted to Syria alone the remaining thirty to the rest of the world. The number of seventy must be full
This is a Buddhist belief adopted by Islam. No
for the world to be happy.
Mussulman understands it, but they believe it, only unconsciously.
The
is
character of the Dalai Lama is more defined, more clear, because the Buddhism
prevailing in Central Asia is not manifested in secondary forms.
Mussulman may dishelieve the ravings of Fakirs and Dervishes, as indeed most do
but in Thibet belief in the Dalai Lama is obligatory. The Abdal sometimes
appear in the character of the Russian Yourodeevui.
2
This has a double meaning that we, attaining our ends, may glorify God
in peace and quietness, or that falling in the Path of God we may rest in the
;
bosom of the Saints.

3
Twenty-nine chapters of the Koran begin with mystic letters often
enough, forming whole words without any meaning, such as those in this song.
Shamil
APPENDIX
491
We are thy unhappy servants,

To thee alone we send up glory
Thy
That
will,
is
oh God, has been heard,
our desire and our aim.
Thy name is our device,

Thy glory our weapon
!
For the sake of Allah, &c, &o.
We
besought you as to our needs,

turn to you for their fulfilment.
To you again, oh ye Saints
Oh, beseech God, pray to God,
For the sake of the names and attributes
For the sake of the Most High Being,
For the sake of the Saints, for the sake of the Most
Honourable One,
For the sake of the Prophets, for the sake of their deeds
Now we
For the sake of Ta-Ha, the sovereign of the

For the sake of 'AH the most holy
You, the light of the eyes of truth,
Lead us to the wished -for end.
worlds,!
In the name of the Lord, who chose you out,

endowed you with the light,
gave you power in this world,
Come, come and help us
Who
Who
So
hymn has referred

Shamil now addresses it
far the
Tarikat.
to the holy steps of the
directly to the Murids.
Orthodox Mussulmans do not venture to explain them or express a definite

opinion about them. Many see in them a hidden meaning some interprepay heed, oh man
tations, however, are but too simple, as, " Oh man
Oh,
Muhammad," &c, &c. The mystics generally like to attempt the explanation
of these letters, and have whole volumes on the subject called 'Ilmu'l-Huruf,
the science of letters. Only on this account are they introduced into Shamil's
song, and because they are sanctified by the Koran.
1
That is, for the sake of the Prophet Muhammad.
;
492

Make
Come
bare the sword, oh people
to our help
Bid good-bye to sleep and quietness,
I call you in the name of God
For the sake of God, &c, &o.
!
To the rescue, zealous ones,

Come, come and conquer,
Conquer, oh friends,
Conquer, oh chosen ones,
For the sake of God, &c, &c.
Zaynu'l-'Abidin
is
in your midst,
Lo, he stands at the door.
He shivers on account of your want

And prays to God the Only One,
of steadfastness,
You
are the Gates to Allah,
Come, save, make haste,

Those who have strayed, have fallen away,
Have fallen away from the people of God.
Not
Not
Not
Not
once
once
once
once
we conquered,
2
only have we prayed with the friends,
3
only have the cups gone round amongst us,
only have
only have we drunk from
name
them remembering the
of Allah.
We
We
went round about, we came in good time,

pilgrimages, we turned again
Everywhere we saved our brethren,
And we found the people of God.
made
1 This is the proper name of the 4th Imam of the Shi'ites, and has a great
importance in mysticism.
2
That is, we overcame by persuasion our Mussulman brothers, who had
submitted to the Russians, and prayed with them, and rejoiced in their
salvation.
3
The cup means, as with Hafiz, according
Wine is forbidden, and Shamil never drank it.
to the mystics, Divine Love.
APPENDIX
493
Zaynu'l-'Abidm inspires you,

He stands at your doors,
God preserve us from backsliding.
On
1
who
fellow-fighters in the cause of
God
1
!
This song was sung in chorus by all the Murids accompanying Shamil,
rode almost always at a foot's pace, except, of course, when engaged in
military operations.
Note.
by
The spelling
Prof. E. G.
Browne
the Arabic words has been most kindly revised

Cambridge.
of
of
INDEX
Abbas Mirza, heir to Persian throne,
beaten by Russians, 69 offended by
;
Yermdloff 103 ; celebrates Russian

defeat in Karakaitagh, 124 attacks
Turkey, 142 invades Karabagh, 154
his
defeated at Djevan-boulak, 165
plans and strategy, 172 supported by
England, humiliated by Russia, 181
dies at Meshed, 181 n. ; difficult position in 1829, on Paskievitch's advice
sends his son, Khosroff Mirza, to St.
Petersburg, 209
Abdoul Aziz, Shamil's father-in-law,
cures his wounds, 280
Abdourrahman of Karakhee a chief
supporter of Shamil, 305, 309 n.
Abeen, Fort, repulses enemy, 347 n.
Abercromby, Hon. John, " A Trip
through the Eastern Caucasus," 28 n.
Abich, erroneous opinion of, 422 n.
Abkhasia, Russian expedition to, 67
Persia abandons all
joins Russia, 78
claims by treaty of Gulistan, 90
partial occupation of, 259
Abou-Noutsal, Khan of Avaria, heroic
death of, 286
Abrek (outlaw), 488
Abu Hashim, first Sufi, 232
Adats, Customary Law in Tchetchnia,
sometimes written,
xxxvii,
231 ;
they
generally oral, 243 and n.
those resanction blood-feuds, 245
lating to blood-feuds vary, Komardff
" time of the," 249
on, 247
Adeeghe, a people including the Tcherkess, or Circassians proper, the Kabar,
&c,
8
Aderbijan. See Azerbijan
Adil Gherem, Shamkhal of Tarkou, 26
diins,
Adjars, attempt on Akhaltsikh, 206

Adrianople, treaty of, 221
Advance, the final, 472
jEschylus, name Caucasus used by, xxi
Afghans threaten Resht, 28 and India,
177
;
Agatch
KaM
(Tchoumkeskent),
Kazi
Moulla's stronghold, 256
Agha Muhammad Shah massacres
Agrakhan, 28
Ahaclis, or Sayings of Muhammad, four
hundred known to Kazi Moulin, 244
Aiglanli, Russian losses at, 164 n.
defile deAimiakee destroyed, 140
scribed, 430
Akhalkalaki, Goudovitch defeated at,
stormed by Kotliarevsky, 82
77
Turkish attempt on, defeated, 85 restormed by
stored to Turkey, 87
Nicholas I. at, 311
Paskievitch, 190
Turks beaten back there in 1853, 447
;
Akhaltsikh, Tormazoff's abortive siege,

79 ; Pasha of, holds captive German
colonists, 156 n.
183 ; formerly part
of Georgian kingdom, semi-independent situation of, Paskievitch marches
on, 192 ; strength of, 192, 195 battle
of, 193
captured, 198
Turkish atRussians
tempt to recapture, 201
taken by surprise, BeboutofE blockaded, 206 relieved by BourtBeff, 207
plague, again threatened by Turks,
210; Nicholas I. at, 311; Turks
beaten back in 1853, 447
Akhkent, Wrangel takes the heights of,
;
474
Akhmet, Khan of Mekhtoulee,
his intrigues, 294 ; causes Hadji Mourad

to forsake Russian cause, 351 ; his
widow
carried off
by Hadji Mouracl,
426
Akhoulgd taken by
Shamil shut up
Fese" in 1837, 301

in, description of,
324
Akhtee, fort built, 343 military road
from, begun, 411
heroic defence of,
435 relieved by Argouteensky, 436 ;
military road completed, 439
Akhvakh, savagery of people, they pillage Shamil's baggage train, 475
;
and n.
Akhverdi Mahomd, his position during
siege of Akhoulgu, 324
he fails to
take advantage of it, 326 acquires
;
fame
partisan leader, attacks

Mozddk, 349 ; presents Shouanet to
Shamil, 350 ; his sword, 362 death at
Shatil, 374
mentioned in " Song of
the Death of Hamzad," 486
Akoushi (Darghee Confederacy) conquered by Yermoloff 132-134; strength
of, 252 ; Shamil defeated, 383
as
in-
habitants of Tiflis, 19, 56 ; his invasion of Georgia justifies Russian

interference, he is assassinated, 59
INDEX
496
Aksai, inhabitants of, involved in rebellion, 148

Aksai, new, built, 152
Akstafst, Paskievitch's victory on banks
of, 158
Aktash Aktchee, site of Emanuel's defeat, 256
Al Hallaj. See Husayn-ibn-Mansur
Alazan, river, defeat of Omar Khan, 61 ;
Shamil devastates valley of, but is
beaten at Shildee, hopelessness of his
cause, 449
Al-Azizi on languages of Caucasus, xxv
Albrandt at Ghermentchoug, 275 saved
by eikon at Ghimree, 284 ; brings back
Russian deserters from Persia, 312
loses arm in Vdrontsoff's Dargo expedition, his stoicism, 405 .
Aldee, alleged birthplace of Shaykh;
Mansour, stormed by
49
Alexander the Great never near the
Caucasus, Shamil's ideas, xxvi
Alexander I. of Russia, Georgia united to
Russia, 21 his accession, 60 Georgia
reunited, 66
his humanity, 98 ; he
gives no encouragement to Feth Ali's
Pieri,
hopes, 100 ; his opinion of Mazardvitch,

143 ; he remonstrates on massacre of
whole family, 146 ; dies at Taganrog,
153
Alexander
I.
of Georgia divides his
kingdom, 66
Alexander II. of Russia, Shamil presented to, after Gouneeb, 311
Alexander, Georgian Tsarievitch, turns
traitor, 61
defeated by Orbeli^ni, 88
Alexandrovskaya founded, 40
Ali, name by which Shamil was first
called, 240
defends
Ali Bek in Tchetchnia, 315
Sourkhai's castle, 324 killed, 330
Ali Mourad, Shah of Persia, 19
AUeroi, on line of VdrontsofF s retreat,
405
Alii Yar Khan, Persian prince, 204
Allies, their blunder in Crimean war,
;
448
Alpani, Russian defeat near, 58
Ameer - Hadji -Yourt, Russian garrison
surprised at, 149 ; rebuilt, 152 Volzhinsky defeated and killed, 270
Ammalat Bek murders Colonel Verkhdvsky, Bestouzheffs novel, 144
Anaklia taken by Russians, 67
Ananour recaptured from insurgents, 85
Anapa, 41 description of, its importance, Tekelli's attempt fails, 52
Bibikoff's disastrous retreat, 53 ; surrenders to Admiral Poustoshkin, 76
restored to Turkey, 87, 183 ; surrenders
to Menshikoff, 189
importance of
position, 190 ; Nicholas I. at, 311
Anatolia, capital of Erzeroum, 219
;
Andee, blood-feud
march
on, 253
in,
247
Kazi Moulla's
treeless region, 254
Shamil acknowledged in, 313 taken

by Russians, 390
Andee gates, a natural gap, 390
Andji KaU. See Petrovsk
Andreyevo (Enderee) founded, 8 ; attacked by Shamil, 368
Andronnikoff, Prince, defeats Turks on
;
the Tcholok, 447
Empress of Russia, abandons

Peter's Persian conquests, 31
Andsoff, Lieutenant, gallant conduct of,
Anne,
366 n.
Antchimeer stormed by Passek, 389

Aoukh, Kazi Moulla's designs on, 255
declares for Shamil, 314
Aouls of Daghestan, southern aspect
xxxii; women do the hard work
of,
in,
xxxiii
DadiAouls, desperate defence of

Ghermentchoug, 271
Yourt, 131
Argouani, 319 ; Gherghebil, 429
Apparition of St. Barnabas and St. Bartholomew in battle, 36
:
Apraxin establishes Greben Cossacks
in
their present settlements, 10

Arabs in Daghestan, 26 ; in Caucasus,
233
Arakanee, Sagheed Efendi teaches Kazi
Moulla at, 240 scene of Kazi Moulla's
first open movement, 251
;
Aras, river (Araxes), Feth Ali crosses

the, 61
Ardahan, Kios Pasha retires on, 188
surrenders, 199
Ardebil surrenders to Russians, 175
Ardji-am, Trout Lake (" l'expedition
ddtruite"), 393; Yevdokeemoff encamps there, 473
Argouani, storming of, 317-321
Argoun, river, Yevdokeemoff's expeditions, the valleys occupied, 461-468
;
Argounskoe
fort built, 465

See Argouteensky-Dolgo-
Argouteensky.
roukoff
Argouteensky-Dolgoroukoff, Prince, defeats Shamil, 356

relieves Klugenau
at Khounzakh,
routs Murids
367
at Marghee, 382 ; defeats Murids in
Upper Samour, 383 at assault on
Gherghebil, 431
takes Gherghebil,
434; fails at Tchokh, 438 his "historical and unprecedented march," 449
Ariol (Orel), Yermdloff retires to, 160
Armenians, traders and shopkeepers in
northern Caucasus, 46 at Akhaltsikh,
195 90,000 leave Turkey, 223
Arms the most cherished, possession
of Tohetchens, xxxvi natives highly
value them, 114 made at Koubatcb.ee,
137, 150 n. ; sword of Tamerlane, 169
disarmament equivalent to dishonour,
;
INDEX
346
460
n.
rifles,
native and
497
B
Russian,
n.
Army
Corps in Georgia, strength in

1810,126
of, in Caucasus
Army, Russian, strength
in 1825, 152; strength in Transcaucasia

in 1828, 183 recruits for Paskievitch,
201 ; strength of Paskievitch's force,
212 ; strength of, in 1837, 294 ; in
1841, 353; demoralisation of, 358;
depletion of, regiments, 359 n. ; losses
in 1843, 373 ; increase in 1844, 379 ;
Vorontsoff's heavy losses, 410; constant drain on, 427 ; strength of
Baridtinsky's force, 473
Artillery, neglect of, by Russians, 433
Ashilte, Shamil proclaimed Imam at,
289 ; Fuse's attack on, 299 ; its desola;
306
tion,
occupied by Grabbed 323
Ashilta bridge (so-called), Russian disaster at, 289

Ashtarik, battle of, 167
Asian, Khan of Kazi-Koumoukh, his
treachery, 286
Aslandouz, scene of Kotliarevsky's vic-
Galgai expedition, 264
river,
Shamil on the, 418
Don
Cos-
sacks, Ilovaisky, 45
Atarshtchikoff at Ghermentchoug, 272
Atchalouk, Shamil and Freitag pass, 419
Atchkhoi, fortress built, 426 ; Shamil
defeated at, 469

Atli-Boyoun, Baron Taube defeated by
Kazt Moulla, 256
Atskhour surrenders, 199 ; Turks beaten
back in 1853, 447
Austerlitz, 72
Axe, Tchetchens conquered by the, xxxv
Avar language, difficulty of, xxx
Avaria, Akhmet, Khan of, routed by
Yermdloff and deposed, 130; the
khanate ruled by Pakhou-Beekhe",
252 capital Khounzakh, 254 ; murder

of khans, 285; Russians gain possession of, 295-6 ; Shamil's despotic
rule, 362 ; Russian exactions, 363
Murid gathering in 1843, 365 ; Russians
regain possession after sixteen years,
;
474
the,
their origin
and possible
connection with Avars of Middle Ages,

xxxi all the great Murid leaders were
Avars, 347
;
Avramenko, Colonel,
death of, 289-293
expedition
and
Azerbijan, contemplated invasions aban-
doned, 169 dialect of, 233

Aziz-Ibn-Muhammad-Rasafi quoted by
Khanikoff, 231 n.
;
of,
54-55
Galgai expedition starts from,

263 threatened by Nour Ali, 423
Bariiitinsky at Andee in 1845, 390 ; at
Gherghebil, 1848, 435; chief of Left
Flank, 444
continues raiding warfare but to some extent humanises it,
446 appointed viceroy, 458 arrives
at Petrdvsk, his
measures, 459
his triumphal tour in Avaria, 476
Shamil's surrender to, 482
Bash-Kadikliar, Turks defeated by Beboutoff, 447
Bashli, Pestel's failure, 124; taken and
destroyed by Colonel Meeshtchenko,
125
Balta,
Astarte worship, 18 n.
Astrabad ceded to Russia, 30
Ataman (Hetman), 36 n. ; of
Avars,
defended, 155 palace built by Shah

of Shirvan, 233
Balkar chiefs, exaggerated importance
attached to them by Abich, 422 n.
Balmen, Count de, death
tory, 88
Assa,
Babaratminskaya, slaughter of garrison

by Hadji Mourad, 439; they are
revenged, 442
Bagdad road through Sivas, 201
Bagration, Prince, his escape at Aldee,
49; mortally wounded at Borodind, 49 n.
Baibourt occupied by Bourtseff, 220
blown up by Paskievitch, unnecessary
bloodshed, 221 and n.
Bakounin, Col., defeated near Alpani, 58
Bakounin, General, attacks Tselmess ; his
death, 354
Baku captured by Matioushkin, 30
occupied by Russians in 1796, 58
abortivel attempt on, by Zavaleeshin,
Tsitsianoff appears under the walls,
70 ; and is murdered, 71 ; confirmed
to Russia by treaty of Gulistan, 90;
besieged by Persians, but successfully
Basil II., Greek Emperor, aids Mstislav

against Khazars, 2
Batal Pasha, his defeat and death, 54
Batalpashinsk, Cossack stanitsa, 55 n.

Battalion of Russian deserters in Persia,
311
Bayazid surrenders, 199 ; heroic defence
of Russian garrison, 210
Bazurg, Persian Prime Minister, 101
Yermdloff's dispute with, about Russian deserters, 311
B^bontoff, Prince, blockaded in Akhaltsikh, 206; commands Daghestan
column in 1845, 391 defeats Turks
at Bash-Kadikliai and again at Kouri;
ouk-dar, 447
Beboutoff, Princess, voices fears of in-
habitants of
Tiflis,
157
Beech - trees compose nine - tenths of

Tchetchnia forests, xxxv; gigantic,
358 n. used by native sharpshooters
;
in 1845, 399
INDEX
498
Beiboulat, Tohetchen leader, 148

Bekovitch - Tcherkfeky, Prince, flayed
alive at Khiva, 10
Belgrade, treaty of, 33
Bell, J. S., "Journal of a Residence in
Circassia," vii n. ; his activity amongst
Circassians, 348
Benckendorff, Count, invests Erivan, 164
Benckendorff, Count Constantine, distinguishes himself at Antchimeer, his
written account of Dargo expedition
of 1845, 389 n.
Benoi, Russian cannon recovered at, 275
Berdaa, capital of Arran (Karabagh), 1
Berg6, M,, editor of the A Hi, his unfairness towards Paskievitch, 225, 226
Bestouzheff, Decabrist, mom de plume
Marlinsky, 144 m.
on storming of
Tchoumkeskent and Tchirkdi, 258
Bethune. See Lindsay
Betl, plateau above Ashilta, 298
river, at Akhoulg<5, 324
Bibikoff, his disastrous retreat, 53
Bieliavsky, General, at Dargo, 396
Biscuit Expedition, the famous, 398
Black Sea coast, reasons for not dealing
with in present work, viii (Southern)
want of land communications, 200;
Russian disasters on, 347 n.
Blood-feud, significance of, in Daghestan,
sanctioned by Adats, 245 ; curious
instances, 246, 247; the Koran on,
248 ; still exists in Caucasus, 249
death of Shoualb MouHd, 383 ; brother
as avenger of blood, 489
;
Blue Horde, 41
Bodenstedt, his work interesting but not
trustworthy, 287 ; on Russian deserters, 364
Boetti. See Shaykh-Mansour
Bogdandvitch at Ghermentchoug, 272
Bolduireff redoubt, 51
Bombak
overrun by hordes of Erivan, 55

Borddin, Colonel, gallantry at Kars, 188
at Akhalkalaki, 190
Borodind, Prince Bagration mortally
wounded at, 49
Borzhom defile, 199
Botlikh, Melikoff joins Bariitinsky at,
474 Daniel Sultan surrenders at, 475
Bonlatch Khan is surrendered to Hamzad, 285
Boulgdkoff replaces Glazenap, 75
Bourka (felt cloak), anecdote of, xxxiv
in Arabic "face veil," hence part of
covering of Kaaba, 253 n. ; in connection with assassination of Hamzad,
288 one used as carpet at Shamil's
;
meeting with Klugenau, 309

Bournaya, building of, 123, 139 ; besieged
by Kazi Moulli, 256; Kazi MoulU
buried at, 281
Bouroundouk Kal, the watch tower for-
captured by Russians,
369
474
Bourtounai, feeble resistance at, 317
occupied without fighting, 388 ; fortigotten,
and
fied
staff quarters transferred to,
460
Bourtseff, General, relieves Akhaltsikh,
defeats Turks in night attack

relieves Akhaltsikh, 210;
with Mouravidff defeats Kiaghi, 211
in operations round Milli-diouz, 213;
heroic defence, 216, 217; occupies
Baibourt, is killed at Kart, Russian
207
and again
reverse, 220
"Box, carrying column in a," 269; advised by Freitag in 1845, 404

Bragounee on the Terek, 9
Bridge of native construction, 290 n.
Browne, Professor E. G., revises Arabic
names, ix, 493
Bruce, Captain, his Memoirs, 10 n. ; states
that Shah begged Russian help, 26
Brummer, General, at Ghermentchoug,
272 ; at Gherghdbil, 434
Bucharest, treaty of, 87
Burka. See Bourka
Burning of native dwellings
measure
in
Daghestan
scarcity of timber, 321 n.
efficient
owing
to
Camels in the Caucasus, 233

Cannon unknown in mountains, 235
Russian gun recovered by Veliameenoff 275
,
Cantilever, native bridges constructed on

this principle, 290 n.
Caspian Sea, English merchants pillaged
on the, 13 n. ; Peter's flotilla wrecked,
28 ; high value attached to, by Peter,
30 ; Russia acquires sole right of navigating, 176
Cat, Shamil's, 455
Catherine II., " the Great," extinguishes

Zapordzhian Republic, 4; suzerainty
over Georgia proclaimed, 21; accession
of,
32; orders General Medem to
attack the Outsmi, 37 on Bibikofi's
retreat, 53 ; death of, 59
Caucasian regiments, rough but serviceable, 392 gallantry of, 407
Caucasus, antiquity of name, xxi tribes
of, first contact with Russians, 2
Russian army of, its origin, 31
Caucasus Archeographical Commission,
;
publications, vi
Chaplain, Army. See Pope

Charles, Archduke, his dictum, 224 n.
Cholera at Gherghdbil, 433
Christianity in Daghestan (Albania) in
early times, opposite opinions regard-
INDEX
ing,
248; amongst mountain Tchetchens, Galgais, Kists, &c, 263

in
Tchetchnia, 384 n.
Christians in Caucasus, unification of,
78
Christian church, scene of bloody encounter at Akhaltsikh, 197
Christie, Major, his death at Aslandouz,
88 n. arrival in Persia, 179
;
Cimmerians, xxxiv
Circassians. See Tcherkess
Ooneybeare, his book, "The Key of
Truth," on early Christianity in Daghestan, 248 n.
Constantine, elder brother of Nicholas I.,
does not succeed Alexander I., 153
Copper and silver mines near Sivas, 201
Cossack Line, formation of, 14, 17
Cossacks, origin and history of the,
3-17
rebellions of, 6
pillage
Eng-
merchants on the Caspian, 13 n.

sectarianism amongst, 14 ; their life on
the Terek in early part of eighteenth
lish
499
populations, the Avars, Khounzakh,

Erokert's ideas, xxix; houses and
villages, xxxii ; nature of the country,
xxxiii ; description of inhabitants,
their occasional likeness to Scotsmen,
xxxiv ; Persia abandons all claims by
fgtreaty of Gulistan, 90 ; alarm caused
by Yermdloff's actions, 123 ; first
Russian campaign in the mountains,

fighting in (1823), 145 danger of
rising in 1829, 207 n. ; Arab conquest,
Muridism introduced, 234;
231;
Russia's early progress summarised,
235-236; condition at end of 1831,
259
Daniel, Sultan of Elisou, goes over to
Shamil, 383 his attempt to recover
possession of Elisou, 428; father-inlaw of Kazi Muhammad,455; negotiates
surrender to Russia, 472 surrenders
to Bariitinsky and is pardoned, 475
offers Shamil to mediate, 481
124
Da'nish, 231
characteristics of, 34
heroism of women, 36 ; compared by
VeliameenofB with their native opponents, 113-120; their strength in
1819, 125
(of the Black Sea).
See Zapord-
Danube, war on, affected by events in

Caucasus, 34 ; pressure to be diverted
by Asiatic campaign, 183, 200
D'Arcy (Todd), gains victory over
zhians
Darghee. See AkousM

Dargo destroyed by Veliameenoff, 275
Grabbe's expedition against, 356-360
taken by Vdrontsoff, 396
Datcha Barzoi occupied by Russians,
463
Dates, Old Style, unless otherwise stated,
century, 32
the Don) ordered by Paul to

invade India, 22 n. ; Pldtoff's heroic
fight, 36 ; Ilovaisky, ataman of, 45
headquarters Tcherkask, alleged defeat of, 51 insubordination of, 56 no
match for Kurds, 164
(Grebentsi) settle near modern
Grozny, 7 ; their native wives, 11 ; good
looks and free manners of women, 12
defeated by Kazi Moulla, 270
(of
(Terek-Seme"iny), 11
the Ukraine or Little Russia).
(of
See Cossacks
(of the Volga) transferred to Line,
34, 39 ; characteristics of, 39
Crimea abandoned by Turkey, 39

Crimean war, its effect in the Caucasus,
447
Crim-Tartars
exodus
of,
in
the
Caucasus,
36
45
Cruelty of Russians, 258, 279, 346

Cultivation of land in Daghestan, xxxiv
Cnrzon, Lord, his account of Christie's
death, 89 n.
D
Dadian, title of Mingfelian rulers, 66 ;
at Ghimree, 282
Dadi-Yourt, destruction of, 130
Daghestan, description of, mountain
system, river system, xxviii
geology,
Russians,
180
83
his arrival in Persia,
viii
Da'vat, 238
DavueedorT, the poet-partisan, 125 n.

approves Yermoloff's methods, 153 n. ;
statement as to Yermolofi's magnanimous conduct refuted, 159 n.
Dawson, English artillery sergeant in
battle against Russians, saves fourteen
guns, 158 n.
Death-chant of Murids, 431
Death-scene, 442 and Appendix
Death-trap at Gherghebil, 432
DebScle, the, 473
Decabrist rising, 153
Decabrists. See Poushtchin, Bestouzheff
finally subdued by Melikoff, 474
Demoralisation of Russian troops after
Ashtarak, 168
Dengan, Shamil's father, a drunkard,
241
Derbend surrenders to Peter, earthquake
at, situation and history, 27, 28 ; walls
described by Abercromby, 28 n. taken
by General Medem, 38 ; surrenders
to Count Zouboff 58
taken by the
Russians for the fourth and last time,
74 ; confirmed to Russia by treaty of
Deedos
INDEX
500
Gulistan, 90 ; besieged by Eazi
MoulH,
257
De Quincey's " Revolt of the Tartars,"
36 n.
Deserters,
Russian,
frequent,
298
numerous in Persia, 311, 364; six
hundred at Dargo, 396 ; their quarters
burnt at Veden, 428
Despotic rule introduced into Daghestan
by the Arabs, xxxiv
Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri, second Sufi, 232
Diarbekir road through Sivas, 201
Diebitsch, Count, sent to investigate
matters, his cruel letter to Yermoloff,
160; hampers Paskievitch, 164; and
sneers at him, 225
Digour, total defeat of Eiaghi Bek, 211,
212
Dileem, forest outting to Bourtounai, 460
Dioscurias, near Soukhoum-Eale, xxiv
Djaro-Bielokani territory annexed, 66
General Goulidkoff defeated and killed,
68 pacification of, 259
Djebal Alsuni, "the Mountain of Languages " (Caucasus), xxv
Djengoulee, Krasovsky sets out from, 167
Djengoutai stormed by Yermdloff, 124,
297
Djerakh, Galgai expedition, 264
Djevan-Boulak, defeat of Abbas Mirza,
;
165
Djighitovka, feats of skill on horseback,
11,44
Djinghis Khan, 42
Djini, Major, attacked and killed in
Earabagh, 83
Doubr6vin, Lieutenant-General, his book,
" The Conquest of the Caucasus," v
DoushtH recaptured from insurgents, 85
Drunkenness, Eazi MoulU and Shamil
start temperance crusade, 241
to Persians, 155; Russians re-enter,
158
General, defeated by Eazi
Moulli, 256 cannon lost by him recovered, 258
Enderee (Andreyevo) founded, 8 Russian
reverse in 1722, 25 Vnezapnaya built
opposite, 123
England, story of the Murid war has
Emanuel,
special interest
India, xxxviii ;
East and west of the Caucasus, significance of fact that they were
separated throughout the Murid war,
412 ; mutual influence, 413
Edwards, Sutherland, translator of M.
Verderevsky's book on captivity of
Georgian princesses, 451 n.
Eetoum
Kale",
now Yevdokeemovskoe,
467
Egypt, Mehemet Ali and the Caucasus,
348
Ekatereenograd, foundation of, 39
Elbrouz, summit first trodden by Englishmen, vii
Elisou. See Daniel, Sultan
Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, her reign,
31
Elizave'tpol {see Gandja) opens its gates
on account of
saves Caucasus for

Russia by defeating Mehemet Ali, 349
England and Persia, English influence
in Persia to be destroyed, 101 ; British
officers withdraw from Abbas Mirza's
camp, 142 Abbas Mirza induced to

withdraw from Turkish territory, 142
Macdonald interposes on behalf of
;
English in Persian
Menshikoff, 155
army, 158 summary of British intervention in Persia from 1800-1830,
176-181
British non-commissioned
officers leave, 180; British policy approved by Paskievitch, 181
England and France neglect the Cau;
casus, 447
to
as
Erckert, General, his ideas
languages and races of Daghestan,
xxix, xxxi; his book, Der Uraprwng
derKasaken (The Origin of the Cossacks), 4 n.
Eiistoff, Prince, murdered at Baku with
Tsitsianoff, 71 ; with Mouravidff takes
Tabriz, 174
Erivan, Tsitsianoff marches against, 68 ;
siege raised, surrenders to Persians,
69 ; Sirdar detains Menshikoff, 155 ;
besieged by Paskievitch, 164 ; sufferings of Russian besieging army, which
retires, 166
siege resumed, city cap;
tured, khanate becomes Russian province, 169 ; Qdrie ot Oumd first played,
202
for,
Nicholas I. at, 311

regiment, flight of the, 257
Erpelee, judge appointed by EazaMoulla,
244 stormed by Russians under Pankratieff, 258
Erzeroum, peace concluded between
Persia and Turkey, 143 Russians sixty
miles from, in 1828, 199 Paskievitch
marches on Erzeroum, 212; and captures it, 219
Esen-am, trout lake, 473
Etchmiadzin occupied by Russians, 164;
attacked by Ehan of Erivan, relieved
by Krasovsky, and again attacked by
Abbas Mirza, 166 ; Erasovsky fights
battle of Ashtarak, 167
Nicholas I.
at, 311
Euphrates, Russians at head waters of, 199
Europe, campaigns in Transoaucasia relieve pressure on European frontier
of Turkey, xxiv
;
INDEX
Evarnitsky, /sforia Zapordzhskikh Kazdlcoff
(History of Zaporozhian Cossacks),
4 n.
Evghenievskoe, fort, built, 354; beleaguered, 371; relieved by Freitag,
Evolution, fundamental idea of Sufi'ism,
232
n.
501
correspondence with Vdrontsoff in

1845 ; his judgment and frankness,
403, rescues Vdrontsoff, 409 ; his pursuit of Shamil in 1846, 415-427 his
undeserved oblivion, 417 m. ; resumes
forest-cutting, 444
French, the, proscribed by Malcolm in
his treaty, 177 their position in Persia
compromised, 179
Freshfield, D. W., his two works on the
Caucasus, vii n.
;
Fanaticism of Kazi Moulla and Shamil,

241 of Kazi Moulla, 253: of Shamil,
374-379
Fatima, sister of Shamil, 280; throws
herself over cliff at Akhoulgd, 341
Feddor Ivanovitch, Tsar, peasantry of
Russia ascribed to the glebe by, 5
takes to himself Caucasian titles, 9
;
Fese\
289
307
by
General, his operations in 1837,

his Avar expedition of 1837, 294; takes Gherghdbil and is replaced
Klugenau, 356 ; praised by Okdl;
Shamil rejoices at his
nitchi,
356 m.
Feth
recall,
G
Gagatl taken by Russians, 390
Galafeyeff, General, at Akhoulgd, 326
succeeds Pullo, 349
Galgai expedition of 1832, 263-265
Gandja, treaty of, 1735, 31 ; occupied by
Russians under Zduboff, 58 taken by
storm, 1804, renamed Elizavetpol, annexed by Tsitsianoff, 67 confirmed to
Russia by treaty of Gulistan, 90 (and
;
see
Elizavdtpol)
Gap between the
Khan
of Derbend, 38
Shah of Persia, succeeds Agha
Muhammad, 59 n. ; crosses Aras,
61 ; crosses Aras in 1815, but reAli,
69 ; congratulates Gouddvitch
on his defeat of Turks, 77 he sends
embassy to St. Petersburg, hoping
tires,
to recover the khanates, 100 ; his

sons, 103 ; he is succeeded by Mahmoud, 181 ; Griboyedofl's murder, 204
Feth Ali recalcitrant, 209
Finkenstein, Franco- Persian treaty ratified at, 178
Finlay on Varangian question, 1 n.
Finnish types in Avaria, xxxi
Floersheim, C, viii
Fok, General, death of, 395 body lost,
400
Foreign intervention, rumours of, 347
Forests, their primary importance in
Tchetchnia, xxxv
Shamil's care of,
xxxvi their extent, 40
Forest-cutting, due to Veliameenoff's
resumed by Freitag
initiative, 147 n.
and continued by Yevdokeemoff 444,
460, 464
Forest-fighting, first Russian disasters,
49 ; Tornau's description (1832), 26<i
Shamil in Tchetchnia, 349 ; Grabbe's
expedition, 356-360; Vdrontsoff's expedition in 1845, 394-410
Fortanga, river, Shamil on the, 418
Fostering, Caucasian custom, 287
Frahn, Christian Martin von, Professor,
orientalist, 199 n.
France, views on India, 177
Freitag, General, his use of sharpshooters, 269 relieves Neezovde, 372
;
and western
eastern
tribes never bridged over, importance

of the fact, xxiii
Gardanne, General, Napoleon's envoy,

mediates in vain between Russia and
Persia, 77; sent to Persia with seventy
officers, efforts
against British influence achieve partial success but
eventually fail, 178 ; he leaves Teheran,
179
Garni-Tchay,
river,
concentration
of
Paskievitch's forces on, 165
" Gauntlet, running the."
See
Ranks
King of Georgia, 21
threatened by the Shah, protected by
Paul I., 60; before death offers crown
his grand-daughters
to Paul I., 61
made prisoners by Shamil, 451
George, son of Grand Prince Andrew
Bogolioubsky, 2
Georgia, Mongol and Tartar invasions of,
united to Russia, 21 ; Russians
18
retire, 36
troubles consequent on
death of Tsitsianoff, 73 invaded by
Baku
Khan of
and Tsarievitch Alexander, 76 threatened by Turks, saved
by Paulucci, 78 rebellion of 1812 and
Russian disasters, 84-85 and m. Persia
George XII.,
abandons
all
Gulistan, 90
Georgian army
claims by treaty of
trouble in 1829, 208
corps, establishment in
1819, 126
princesses carried off by Shamil's
son, 449 story of their captivity and
;
release,
451-453
road, length of, and height of pass,

20 n. threatened by Nour Ali, 420
saved by Gourko, 423
;
Georgians,
their
history,
18
over-
INDEX
502
whelmed
at Akhaltsikh in thirteenth
German
colonists first introduced by

Count Potiomkin, 46 German names
of Russian commanders, 275
Ghazavat (Holy War) preached by
Shaykh-Mansour, 47, 238
Ghedatl. See Gheed
Gheed, Avar community, 483 n.
;
Ghelendjik, Nicholas
birthplace
of
Hamzad, 283
Turks and makes attempt on Erivan,

his vanity
and
folly,
77
disastrous
retreat,
I. at,
287
taken by Fese, 356

weakness of
Russian garrison, heroic defence, captured by Murids, 370; position, description, failure of Vdrontsoff's attempt
on, 428 et seq. taken by Argouteensky,
434
Ghermentchoug stormed, 271
Ghertme, junction of Tchetchnia and
Daghestan columns in 1845, 387
Gherzel aoul besieged by Tchetchens,
and
149
Generals Lissanievitch
Gn'koff assassinated, 150
Grabbe's
retreat to, 359
Ghikh, Akhverdi Mahom, Naib of, 486
Ghilian, Persian province of, Russian
occupation, 29 deadly climate, 31
Ghillee, Passek's victory at, 382
Ghimree, birthplace of MoulH Muhammad (Kazi Moulla), 234; and of
Shamil, 240
prison pits of, Murid
meeting proclaims Kazi MoulU Imam,
situation, roads, expedition of
252
killed,
Shamil
1832, Kazi Moulla"
escapes, 276-281 Kazi Moulin buried
inhabitants fail Shamil in
at, 281
he threatens them, 342
1838, 327
(Turkish,
Giaour
Gyawur), 238
Gibbon on enthusiasm and imposture of
Muhammad, 378 n.
Gillenschmidt, General, at Kars, 187
Glazenap, General, diplomatic treatment
of Shamkhal, takes Derbend, but is
superseded by Gouddvitch, 74
Gmelin dies in captivity at Kayakent, 37
Gobineau, Count, on the tolerant spirit
of Islam, 237 m.
Godoundff, Tsar Boris, sends abortive
expedition against the Shamkhal, 9
Goiten forest, 266
Golden Horde, 41
Golotl, meeting of BarUtinsky and Keebeet Mahomii, 476
Goldvine, General, succeeds Rosen, his
plans for 1839, 314 ; successful Samour
expedition, wise measures, 343 puts
price on Shamil, 344 n. plans for 1841,
353 ; his opinion of Shamil, 355 ; his
account of Grabbe's Dargo expedition,
356-359 recalled, 360
Odrie ot Oumd first played at Erivan, 202
;
Gouddvitch, Count, succeeds Count Paul

Potiomkin and takes Anapa, 55 ; recalled, 56 ; reappointed, 59 and again
by Alexander I. though no longer
qualified to command, 75 he defeats
he resigns and is succeeded by

correspondence with
Tormazoff, 78
Gardanne, 178
311
Gheok-Tchai, district of, 233
Ghedrghievsk, foundation of, 39
Gherghebil taken by Klugenau,
Gotsatl,
stormed by Klugenau, 287
century, 192
Gouliakoff, General, killed, 68
Goumbet, Shamil recognised in, 313

Goumri (Alexandropol) blockaded, 155
Nicholas I. at, 311
Gouneeb, Shamil flees
475 ; devoted
loyalty of villagers, 475 ; siege bedescription of Gouneeb,
gins, 476
its strength, Shamil's weakness, 477
Gouria joins Russia, 78
Gourians fight with, not against, Russians
at Limani, 207
Gourieff, General, defeat of, 82
Gourko, Lieutenant-General, takes command in Daghestan, 368 withVdrontsaves Georgian road
soff in 1845, 392
in 1846,423
Grabbe, Count, his expedition to Argouani and Akhoulgd, 313 et seq. ;
army concentrates at Vnezapnaya and
optimism after
Shoura\ 315
his
Akhoulgd, 344 visits St. Petersburg
and obtains practically independent
command, 355 ; consequent quarrel
with Goldvine, 356 ; his Dargo expedition of 1842, 356-360 disastrous
Daghestan expedition, heavy losses
under his command, 359 ; recalled, 360
Grabdvsky, Major, killed, 366
Grebentsi. See Cossacks (Grebdntsi)
Greig, Vice- Admiral, commands fleet at
taking of Anapa, 190
to,
Grekoff, General, his gross cruelty, 147,

148 ; assassinated, 150
Griboyedoff, scathing verdict on officials
of Imperial Library, 199 n. ; Odrie' ot
Oumd played first at Erivan, Griboyedoff is attached to Ydrmdloff's staff,
and employed by Paskievitch, his
mission to Teheran, his death, Poushkin meets Griboyddoff's body, his
strange reflections, 201-205

charge
of English complicity refuted, 202 m.
Griboyddoff Madame, daughter of Prince
Tchavtchavadze, Macdonald cares for
her, 202 n.
Grigoridpolis, small fort, besieged by
Shaykh-Mansour, 50
Grozny, building of, 107 meaning of
name, 107 .. ; Freitag sets out to
rescue Vdrontsoff, 409; bombarded,
;
426
INDEX
Grove, F. C, his book, " The Frosty
Caucasus," vii n.
Guldenstedt, Academician, cut off by
natives at Kazbek, 20
Gulistan, treaty of, 90 dispute arising
from, 154
;
Gyawur.
See Giaour
503
Hamzad, the outlaw, Tchetchen Song

the Death
of
485
Hands, right, cut off by Tousheens, 398
Hanway quoted, 26 n.
Hart, Major, acquires great influence in
Persia, but dies of cholera, 180
Hasfort, General, 416
Hassan Kali, important position, 200
Turkish army at, 213 surrenders to
Paskievitch,219
Hazri, village in province of Baku, 232
Heimann, General, his "Recollections"
quoted in the account of Dargo expedition of 1845, passim
Hen, the origin of a blood-feud lasting
three centuries, 246
Herat, Russians in Persian service at
siege of, 312 n.
Hermann, General, victory over Batal
Pasha, 54 ; he is defeated and taken
prisoner at Bergen-op-Zoom, 55
Herodotus, name Caucasus known to,
xxi on the Scythians, xxxiv
Heroism of Russians, 167, 347 m.
Hesse, General, takes Turkish camp at
Limani, 207 ; fails in attempt on
Tsikhis-dsiri, 222 n.
Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince Alexander of,
with Vdrontsoflt in 1845, 391; in
danger, 395
Honour, peculiar code
of,
among
Tchetchens, xxxvii
Horrors of Caucasian warfare, 340, 446
Horses, endurance of native,
114
method of training for raids, 118
Horse-shoes reversed by Hadji Mourad,
439
custom,
Hospitality,
unmentionable
475 n.
Humboldt, Alexander, on diversity of
languages in Brazil, xxvi
Huns, possible connection with Avars,
xxxi
Husayn-ibn-Mansur (al Hallaj, the woolof,
H
Hadji AH of Tchokh on Kazi Moulla,
240
Hadji Ismail consecrates Moulin Muhammad, 243
Hadji Mourad rights against Murids at
Khounzakh, 255 kills Hamzad, 287,
288 ; is driven by intrigue to adopt
Muridism, 351
made prisoner by
;
Russians, his escape, 352

consequences of his defection, 354; wounded
at Tselm^ss, 355 ; joins Shamil, 365 ;
good service at the Minaret ford, 424
daring raids near Shourd, and Djengoutai, 426
rights
Bariatinsky at
Gherghebil, 435
is beaten by ArMeskendjee,
gouteensky
at
436
Shamil's most prominent lieutenant,
438 his raid on ShouKt, slaughter of
his night
a Russian garrison, 439
raid on Bouinakh, his fame, Shamil's
jealousy, 440 condemned by Shamil
he surrenders to the Russians, his
;
'
in Tiflis and mission to

Grozny, he goes to Noukh&, his devotion to wife and family, Melikoff's
narrative of his life, 441 and n.
and characteristic
his escape, 442
death, 443
his head sent to St.
captivity
Petersburg,
him, 443
Okolnitchi's
his
opinion
widow presented
of
to
Bariatinsky, 476
Hadjio, treasurer to Shamil, 454
Hadjis have recently turned attention to
mitigating evils of blood-feuds, 250
Haghki Pasha at Milli-diouz, 213;
totally defeated and taken prisoner,
218
Hakikat, the Truth, 220
Halen, Don Juan van, his relation of
campaigns in the Caucasus, 123 n.
description of Madatoff's Kazi-Koumoukh campaign, 136 n.
Hamzad defeats Strekaloff, 257 fails to
relieve Kazi Moulla, 278 ; birth, early
years, his reforms, submits to Russent to Tiflis, arrested and
sians, 283
released, appears at Tchoumkeskent,
Ghimree, is elected Imam, punishes
himself, 284; massacres the Avar
khans, 286 ; his death, 287, 288
one of Shamil's naibs, taken prisoner, 467
;
carder),
martyrdom
of,
at
Bagdad,
233
Husayn-Kouli-Khan of Baku,
murdered by, 71
Tsitsianoff
Iberia, the ancient name for Georgia,

8 n. ; reunited after four hundred
years, 66
Ibrahim, Khan of Karabagh, killed by
Russians, 76
son of Mehemet Ali, in Asia Minor,
348
taken by
Grabbe, 359
Igor, Prince of Kieff, his attack on Con-
Igalee, natives collect at, 301
stantinople, 1
INDEX
504
Ilovaisky, Ataman of
Nogai Tartars, 45
Don Cossacks,
Imam, Kazi Moulin proclaimed, 252

Hamzad, 284 and Shamil, 289
;
Imeritia,
wars with Mingrelia,

35
united to Eussia, 66 finally annexed,
78 Persia abandons all claims, 90
Immigration, Russian, 46
India and Persia, 176-181
India, Caucasian war and defence of,
xxxviii Indian government furious at
Jones' success, 179
serious friction
with home government in consequence,
180
Ingoushee pillage Rteeshtcheff's baggage, 86
help Russians at Nazran,
262 some emigrate to Turkey, others
become noted brigands and assassins,
469 m.
Irakli II., Tsar of Georgia, implores
Russian help, 19 becomes, nominally,
a Russian vassal, 20
Ireeb surrendered by Daniel Sultan, 475
Ishkartee, Klugenau's desperate position
at, 351 n,
Islam, the tolerant spirit of, Count
Gobineau on, 237 n.
Ismail Efendi of Shirvan, 234
Issa Yourt, on line of Vorontsoff's re;
405
Itchkeria, Veliameenoff penetrates, 275
Itchilalee fortified by Shamil, 473
abandoned by his son, 474
Ivan IV., "the Terrible," grants pardon
to Grebentsi Cossacks, 7-8
Nogai
treat,
Tartars seek his protection, 42

Ivelitch, Count, death of, 293
Izba, Russian peasant's house, 11
Jamalu'd-din
father-in-law of
Shamil,
243
381; Shamil's
invasion of, 411 et seq. ; forms a gap in
centre of fighting line, 414; Greater
and Lesser divided by Terek, 419 n.
regiment, gallant conduct of, in
Dargo expedition of 1845, 401, 402,
disaffected
in
1844,
410
Kabardans, their race and country, 8,
41 friendly to Russia, 32 are driven
to hostility, 33 besiege Kizliar, 34
Kadar, blood-feud in, 246
Kadjar dynasty, 103
Kainli village, 217
Kaitago (Karakaitagh), 26 occupied by
Murids, 381
;
Kalmuck
Tartars employed by Peter,

25 ; flight of, 36 their country, 40
Kalouga, Shamil's imprisonment at, 248
Kara Bab, Paskievitch at, 166, 168
Kara Hissar,
Paskievitch
advances
nearly to, 221
;
Kara Nogais
Tartars, 42
Karabagh, taken by Zduboff, 58; subdued by Tsitsianoff, 69 Khan Ibrahim
killed by Russians, 76
Persian invasion, 83; confirmed to Russia by
treaty of Gulistan, 90 ; annexed by
YermdlofE, 144; invaded by Abbas
;
Mirza, 154
Kara-Bezouk, Persians defeated at, 89

Karaboulak, a Cossack stanitsa, 469 n.
Karaboulaks, an Ingoush clan, migrate
to Turkey, 469 n.
Karadagh (in Daghestan), 297 bridge
impassable, 383
Karakaitagh (Kaitago), 26
Karanai, on road from Shourst to Ghimree, 277
Kar^ta, comeliness of women, residence
of Kazi Muhammad, Jamalu'd-din
sent there, 454 Shamil flees to, 475
Kariaghin, 68
heroism of, 69
takes
;
surrendered to
Shamil's son, 337
Russians, 338 ; prisoner in Russia, ex;
changed
Kabardd ravaged by plague and ruined

by Yerm61off 144 rebellion in, 148
he refuses to countenance the Ghazavat,
routs
for Georgian princesses, his
sad fate, 452-454
Jami Moulin on the knowledge
of God,
part in defeat of Persians by Niebolsecn, 70

Kars, 183; in 1823, 184; siege of, in
1856, 447
253
Jihad, 238
Jones, Sir Harford (afterwards Brydges),
concludes second Anglo- Persian treaty,
Kart, BourtsefE killed at, 220 ; stormed

by Paskievitch, 221
Kartvel, name of Georgian language
group, xxv
race, inclusive terms for Georgians,
Imeritians, Mingrelians, Gourians, &c,
18
Kasaievtsi Tartars, 41
Kavkazskaya, 40
Kavhazsky Sbomik, series of military
179
Joubert, mission to Persia, 178
Junayd, third Sufi, 232
Kayakent, 26 Gmelin dies at, 37

Kaye, historian of Afghan War, unfair
231
Janissaries take part in defence of Akhaltsikb, 198 in spite of their general
destruction two years previously, 229
Jewels, superstition regarding, 280
Jewish origin of Andeeans (supposed),
;
articles, vi
;
INDEX
to Russia, 154
505
on Anglo-Persian
Khanates, Muhammadan, dependent on
Kazakh-Kitchou, Freitag at, 419 ; he is

too late, 425
Kazaneeshtchi, Kazi Moulla preaches at,
244 Shamil at, 371 beaten by Freitag at, 373
Kazbek, summit first trodden by Englishmen, vii
Kazem-Bek, Professor Mirza, he translates Shamil's psalm into Russian, 489
Khanikoff, General, chief Russian autho-
it.
relations, 181
Persia, xxiii
Kazi-Koumoukh,
raided
by Shamil,
Russian resident carried off, 356
Kazi-Koumoukhs not to be confounded
with Koumuiks, 26 khan helps to
defeat Russians under Bakounin, 58
they are conquered by Madatoff, 137
Kazi MoulU, first Imam of Daghestan,
birth,
education,
239
character,
teaches Shamil, 240; scourged by
Shamil, 241 preaches at Kazaneeshtchi, nominates judge at Erpelee,
preaches Muridism openly at Ghimree, 244 takes the field, his written
appeal for Holy War, movement
against Sagheed of Arakanee, 251
authorities for his career, 251 n.
shoots Kadi of Miatli, proclaimed
Imam at Ghimree, 252 marches on
Andee, defeats people of Irganai and
Kasatli, his ignorance and fanaticism,
253 ; defeat at Khounzakh, 255 ; retires to Agatch Kald, defeats Taube,
destroys Paraoul, captures Tarkou,
besieges Bournaya, but is forced to
retreat; besieges Vnezapnaya, defeats
Emanuel, 256 lays siege to Derbend,
raids Kizliar, 257 threatens Vladikavkaz and besieges Nazran, 261 retires across Soundja, sends force to
secure submission and conversion of
mountain Tchetchens and Khevsours,
defeats Cossacks under Vol262
zhinsky, his last success, 270; killed
at Ghimree, 280 buried at Bournaya,
his body afterwards removed to Ghimree, 281
Kazi Muhammad, Shamil's son, raids
Tsinondal and carries off the Georgian princesses, 449 ; his incompetency, 474
;
Keebeet
Mahomet assassinates
native
rulers of Tilitl, is one of Shamil's chief
supporters, 298 n. takes Ghergh6bil,

370 defies Argouteensky, 438 abandons Shamil's cause, 472; leads
Russians to Tilitl result, 475 meets
Bariatinsky and entertains him, 476
Keetouree, Vrevsky killed at, 46S
joins
Bariatinsky
Kegher heights,
;
Wrangel, 476
Kerim Khan, Shah

Khalifa, 232
rity on Muridism, 49, 231

Khankah, monastery, 232
n.
Kharatchee shamefully abandoned, gallant attempt to retake it, 367

Kharkoff, Russian camp near, scene of
Shamil's reception by Alexander II.,
311
Khassaf Yourt, fortress
built, 426
Khatountseff, General, restores order in
Kouba and neighbourhood, 82

Khazars, Mstislav's wars with the, 2
Khertviss surrenders to Rayevsky, 191
Khevsours,
anti-Russian
movement
amongst, 87
Simondvitch's campaign against, 90; they beat back
Kazi Moulli's adherents, 262; and
;
Akhverdi Mahom, 374

Khiva, fatal expedition to, 10
Khodjal-Makhee, defile of, 297
Russians
retreat to, 435
Khoi, Abbas Mirza pursued to, 172

Khosrek taken by Maddtoff, 137
Khosroif Mirza, Prince, son of Abbas
Mirza, sent by latter to excuse murder
of Russian mission, 209
Khotchbar, the Song of the Death of,
483
Khoulkhoulau, the river at Ved^n, 454 n.
Khounzakh, capital of Avaria, its situation and strength, 254; Kazi Moulla
beaten off from, 255 Russian garrison, 295 fortified by Russians, 297
remains in Russian hands, 304 Klugenau besieged at, relieved by Argouteensky, 367 Passek retires from, 370
Bariatinsky restores Avarian khanate,
476 ; scene of Khotchbar's death, 483
Khvorostin, Boyar, his defeat and death,
;
Kiaghi Bek threatens Ardahan but retires
and is totally defeated by

Mouravibff and Bourtseff at Digour,
211 his premature boasting, 212
Kibitkas=felt and lattice- work tents, 44
Kindjal, dagger of Caucasus, 150 m.
Kinneir. See Macdonald
Kios Pasha, 185, 192
surrenders at
Akhaltsikh, 198
Kirk Pass, Vorontsoff crosses, 389
Kisteens (Kists, mountain Tchetchens or
Ingoush) take Kizliar, 35
Kists, wild country of the, 483
Kizliar, foundation of, 10
besieged by
Kabardans, 34; taken by Kisteens,
35 murder of Shah's brother at, 47
Shaykh-Mansour defeated there, 50
sacked by Kazi Moullii, 257
Klugenau at defence of Shoushd, 155
in Ghimree expedition of 1832, 278;
takes Ghergh6bil and storms Gotsatl,
to Adjaria,
;
of Persia, 19
INDEX
506
287 his coolness and courage during

the Ashilti bridge expedition, 293 ; his
meeting with Shamil, 307-310 appearance and character, 308 n. wounded
at Zakatali, 309 his gallant conduct,
350, 351 he fails to fathom Shamil's
plans, 365 Okdlnitchi's opinion of him,
and Goldvine's, 365 n. ; his bad luck
in 1843, 366 ; he is besieged at Khounzakh, relieved by Argouteensky, returns to Sboura, 368 ; with Vdrontsoff
in 1845, 392; the "Biscuit Expedition," 399
his appearance in battle,
;
402
Knorring, General, ordered by Paul I. to
prepare for defence of Georgia, 60
Koblian, Turkish sandjak, 211
Koisou, four rivers of this name, 290 n.
Koisoubou villages submit to Russians,
255
Komardff, General, on the languages of
the Caucasus, xxv
Konkhidatl fortified by Shamil and abandoned by Kazi Muhammad, 474
Kopuil founded, 40
Koran, passages relating to blood-feuds,
&c, 248 chanting of verses by Mnrids,
326 Murids' ten-fold oath on, 429
Korneeloff, death of, 398
Korolkdff, General, killed, 194
Eossogs, the, 2
KossoVitch, Major, shamefully abandons
Kharatchee, 367
Kosteerko, Captain, saves remnant of
Russian detachment, 293
storms
KotliareVsky, heroism of, 69
Akhalkalaki, 82 sent by Paulucci to
Karabagh, 84; victory at Aslandouz,
88 at Lenkorari, 89 his death, 90 n.
;
offered command
1826, but declines
against
Persians,
owing to
ill-health,
157
Koubd occupied by
Kovalensky, Russian envoy to Georgia

aids George XII., 60
Kozlovsky, Colonel, defends Vnezapnaya,
368
Krasovsky, General, left to besiege Erivan, 166 fights battle at Ashtarik, 167
Krudener, Major, suffers a reverse, 38
Kurds destroy Ekatereenenfeld, 155
necessity of securing their co-operathey are won over in
tion, 200, 201
appearance only, 201 and raid Russian
money assigned for
territory, 210
them is devoted to Armenians, 223
they form Vorontsoff's bodyguard, 392
Kutchuk-Kainardji, treaty of, 19, 37
;
Laba,
river,
40
Labeentseff, Colonel, at Kars, 186

promoted Majorat Argouani, 318
General, 321 ; at Dargo, 396
Laibach, Yerm<51off at, 140
Languages of Caucasus, their number
astonished the ancients, xxv
Lanskoi, General, takes Ghimree, 286
Laptieff, General, takes Urmia, 175
Lavashee, battle won by Yermoloff, 134
;
Law, Mussulman, 230
Customary Law,
231
Colonel, induces Shamil to
surrender, 482
General, assassinated, 64
Fort, stormed by natives, 347 n.
Lazes, a warlike people, 200 ; not to be
won over, 221
Lenkoran stormed by Kotliarevsky, 89 ;
confirmed to Russia by treaty of
Gulistan, 90 ; abandoned by Russians,
Lazareff,
155
Lermontoff, killed in
Valerik, 350 and n.
duel, 331 n.
Lesghian Line,
lishment, 412
90
Shamil (Frontispiece), viii

Lex talionis of Muhammad, 249
Kouban, Line
voroff,
of,
constructed by Sou-
40
river,
boundary between Russia and
Turkey in 1774, 19
Koubatchee, place and people, 137
Koumuik plain, danger to, in 1846, 416
Koumuiks not to be confounded with
Kazi-Koumoukhs, 26 those of Aksai
;
involved in rebellion, 148

position of, 314
Koura, river, 199
Koureen regiment, heroism
losses of, 410
unhappy
Mrs.
advances from, 460

Tyrrel, her drawing of
n.
Library, Imperial (St. Petersburg), enriched by priceless Persian MSS., 175 ;

again from Akhaltsikh, 198
Lieven, Prince, Russian Ambassador in
London, 143
Limani, Turkish camp taken by Russians,
207
Lindsay, Sir H. Bethune, at Aslandouz,
88 n. his arrival in Persia, 179
Line. See Lesghian
;
and heavy
Kouriouk-Dar, Turks defeated there by

B<5boutoff, 447
Koutais, 199 Nicholas I. at, 311
Kouteshee, Shamil defeated at, 426
;
Lewis,
positions
at
and estab-
Russians, 1796, 58;

defeat of General Gourieff, 82 ; confirmed to Russia by treaty of Gulistan,
its
the, extensions of, under Catherine,

32 ; extended again in 1769 ; Russians
retire to the, 36 ; strengthened and
completed to Rostoff, 39 ; state of
affairs on, in 1816, 104 ; central part
transferred to left bank of Terek,
INDEX
leading
to
disturbances,
local
144
Tchetchen advanced Line, 346, 426

Lines, significance of, 40
by Gouddvitch, 56
strengthened
"A
M
Macdonald interposes on behalf
Men-
of
Tabriz with
155 ; enters
Paskievitch, 174
in the matter of
Griboyddoff's murder, his innocence
established from Russian sources, his
character and kindness, 202 n.
McNeil, Sir John, his influence at Persian
Court, 175
Madatoff, Prince, one of Yermdloff's best
lieutenants, subdues Tabassaran, takes
Bashli and Yanghi-kent, the Outsmi
Maflees, Karakaitagh submits, 130
shikoff,
conquers Kazi-Koukoukh, his

mountain march, 137 sent by Yerdatoff
moloff against
Persians,
157;
gains
brilliant victory at Shamkhor, 158

Magasberd (Mazagbert, possibly same
as
Melasgird), meeting-place of Persians
and Turks, assassination of Seraskier,
81
Mahmed, elder brother of Abbas Mirza,
143
Mahmoud, son of Abbas Mirza, succeeds
his grandfather, Feth Ali, 181 n.
Mahmoud, the Afghan, invades Persia,
23 ; his reply to Peter, 24
Maksadi AJcsa quoted by Khanikoff,
231 n.
Makseemoff, Terskoe Kazatche Voislco
(Terek Cossack troops), 11
Malcolm, Sir John, first mission to
Persia and first treaty, 177 ; he leaves
Bushire in anger, 178 ; sent to Persia
a third time, 179
Malka,
river,
Marie, Queen of Georgia, her intrigues,

she assassinates General Lazareff, is
exiled and imprisoned, her death and
burial,
Lioublin regiment, savage conduct of,

398
Lissanievitch, General, takes part twice
in defeat of Persians by Niebolseen,
76, 78
assassinated, 151
Litovsky regiment, stain on its honour
wiped out, 394
Longworth, J. A., his book,
Year
among the Circassians," vii . his
activity on the Black Sea coast, 348
Liiders, General, retires from Karadagh
bridge, 383 with Vdrontsoff in 1845,
392, 394 his gallant conduct, 407
40
507
63-65
Marifat, 231
Marlinsky.
Marteenoff,
See Bestouzheff
who
afterwards killed Lermontoff at Akhoulg<5, 331 n.

Matioushkin, General, takes Baku, 30
Mazanderan ceded to Russia, 30
Mazardvitch, Russian agent at Teheran,
brings about war between Persia and
Turkey, 141 ; on Russian deserters in
Persia, 311
Medem, General, commanding on the
Line, defeats the Outsmi and takes
Derbend, 38
Medical knowledge of natives, 280
Medjinghert, road over Saganloug mountains, 213
Meeshtchenko, Colonel, defeats Shamil,
469
Mehemet Ali and the Caucasus, his proclamation, 348
Mekhtoulee, Yermdloff's invasion, 124
the people submit and the khanate is
abolished, 125 blood-feud in, 246
Melikoff, Prince Levan, distinguishes
his
himself at Antchimeer, 389 n.
narrative of Hadji Mourad's career,
441 n.
Meller-Zakomdlski, Colonel Baron, his
force saves Levkdvitch from complete
disaster, 420 his blunder in 1846, 424
Menshikoff, Count, sent to announce
accession of Nicholas at Persian Court,
154; detained by Sirdar of Erivan,
allowed to proceed, thanks to interposition of British Minister, 155 takes
Anapa, 189
Meshtchersky, Russian Ambassador to
;
Persia, fails to secure ratification of

treaty, 30
Meskendjee, Hadji Mourid beaten

436
Meteor at Veden, 428
at,
Miansaroff, Professor, his bibliography

of the Caucasus, vii
Kazi Moulin shoots Kadi, 252

Mikhail, Fort (Mikhailovskoe) stormed
by natives, 347 n.
Mikhail of Tver assassinated near Derbend, 2
Miklashevsky, Colonel, at Ears, 186
Miatli,
killed at storming of
Tchoumkeskent,
258
Maltsoff only survivor of Teheran massacre, 202, 203 n.

Marand, Russians at, 173; PaskieVitch
hears of capture of Tabriz, 174
Milioutine, General Count, his monograph on 1839 expedition, still living

(1908), 313 n. ; wounded, 316 ; appointed chief of staff to Bariatinsky,
Mareenskaya founded, 40
Marghee, Murids routed by Argouteensky, 382
Milli-diouz, strong
458
position,
captured by Russians, 218
213,
214
INDEX
508
Minaret at Tatartoub, 50 n.; Shamil's

escape, 424
Mingrelia annexed by Tsitsianoff, 66 by
treaty of Gulistan Persia abandons her
claims, 90
Mingrelians, Turkish slaves, 66
Miskin Doukh, heights stormed, 466
Mitchik, river, exchange of Shamil's son
and Georgian princesses, 452
Monferrat, alleged birthplace of ShaykhMansour, 51
Mongols, 42 invade Georgia, 263
Monks in Islam despite Mohammad's
dictum, 232
Monteith, Lieutenant-General, his account of Persian campaign of 1805,
;
69 n.
bears witness to Paskievitch's
humanity, 170
Montresor distinguishes
himself
in
Persian war, 69
Mummery,
A. F., his book, "
in the Alps
My
and Caucasus,"
Climbs
vii n.
Murid, meaning, 230 ; definition, 232 n.

forces generally exaggerated, 417 n.
Muridism, General Ehanikoff an authoYermdloff disquieted on
rity on, 49
account of, 145 origin, history, and
description of, 230-250 ; persecuted by
Russians, 234 general signification of
term, 250 supposed to be destroyed in
1839, 345; success the breath of life
recapitulation, 478 Shamil's
to, 459
Psalm, 489
Murids " of the Tarikat," take no part
in fighting, 238
actual number in Daghestan not
great, general significance of term,
250; heroic devotion at Ghermentchoug, 271
they chant verses of
Eoran, 326 their death-chant, 431
Murshid, definition, 232 n.
Mussulman, differences, Sunnite and
Shiite, advantageous to Russia, 140;
population, fanaticism according to
Yermdloff, 156
cavalry in Russian
service, 212, 214
at Milli - diouz,
;
Mordovin, Admiral, dreams of milder

measures, 163
Motherwell, verses quoted, xxxvi n.
Mougan steppe overrun by Russians
under Zduboff, 58
Moulla Muhammad of Ghimree. See Kazi
Moulla
Moulla Muhammad of Yaraghl, 234 encourages Kazi Moulla, 243
Mountains, primary importance of, in
Caucasia, xxi mountain chain divided
;
Paskievitch's
emphatic
approval,
219 n.
Mysticism, 230
by nature and these

correspond roughly to the division of
the populations during the war, xxii
Mouravicjir, Count, takes Tabriz, 174 ; at
Ears in 1828, 187 n. at Akhaltsikh,
196 ; with BourtselE defeats Eiaghi,
211 succeeds Vorontsoff, takes Ears
in 1855, 447
Moush, occupation of, necessary to extended advance, 201
occupied by
Russians under Reout, 222 n.
Mozddk, fort built, Cossack regiment
formed, 14 foundation of, 32 claimed
by Eabardan princes and by Turkey,
33 fortified, 34 ; attacked by Akhverdi
Mahoma, 349
Mstislav inherits Tmoutarakan, his wars
with Ebazars and Tcherkess, 2
Muhammad, words, deeds, and qualities,
231 his Ahadis or Sayings, 244 his
character throws light on that of
Shamil, 378 n.
Ameen, a Murid from Daghestan,
leader of western tribes, 413 n.
of Bukhara founded the Nakshabandi, 234
of Bukhara, another of the name, a
follower of Ismail Efendi, 234
Muhammadan religion not always bond
of union, 215
Mttller, F., his opinions on languages of
Caucasus, xxv
into three sections
Nadir Shah, Persia reunited under, 30

he defeats Turkey and marches on
;
Eandahar and
India, 31
fails to
take
Ears, 184
Nafahat of Moulla Jami quoted, 232

Nagel, Colonel, defeats Shaykh-Mansour,
50
Naibs, Shamil's lieutenants, 238 ; their
Murids, 260 their dress, 362
Nakhitchevan entered by Paskievitch,
the khanate becomes Russian province,
165
;
Nakshabandi, Mussulman sect, 234

Naltchik, importance of, 423
Names, custom of changing, 240
Naour (stanitsa), heroic defence of, 36
Napoleon, influence of European war on
Caucasus, 76 his envoy,
General Gardanne, 77 relations with
Persia, 177-178 passage of Alps compared to that of Saganloug Mountains
by Paskievitch, 213
Narses V., Armenian Patriaroh, during
battle of Ashtarak holds up spear
stained with blood of Christ, 157
Natives (northern tribesmen), characterised and described by VeliameenofE
and compared with Cossacks, 113-120
dissensions amongst, chief cause of
their weakness, 480
affairs in the
INDEX
Nazran besieged by Kazi MoulM, 261
Tchetchnia expedition sets out from,
in 1832, 266; revolt of inhabitants,
Shamil's abortive attempts to relieve
them, 468 he is defeated, 469
Neerod, Count, engineering feat at
Akhoulgd, 336
Neezovde beleaguered, 371 relieved by
Freitag, 372
Neidhardt, General, appointed com;
mander-in-chief,
efficiency, 381
1843, 379; his inalienates Daniel Sultan,
384
509
and storms Noukhd, 76
with Lissanievitch gains victory over Persians, 78

Niesvietaeff, General, helps to defeat
Turks, 77
Nikoldievskaya, stanitsa on Terek, 416 ;
Freitag there, 412
Nizam, formation of, 229
Nogai Tartars victimised by Russians,
13; their habitat, 40; origin, history,
and ruin, 41-45

Noukhi, capital of Shekeen, 69 stormed
by Russians under Niebolseen, 76
;
Hadji Mouracl's family
Nesselrode, Count, Foreign Minister,

refuses to believe in danger of Persian
invasion, 154
Ne"sterofE, General, at Nazran in 1846,
416
Nicolai, Baron, commands Russian forces,
effects liberation of captive princesses,
Nour
Ali, his abortive
Tsori
to
Goumri,
Serdar-Abad, Etchmiadzin,
Vladikavkaz
he dismisses Rosen, insists upon return of
Russian deserters from Persia, 311
his
ultimatum, 312 ; he modifies
GoloVine's plans, 314 his scepticism
Erivan,
Tiflis,
after Akhoulg<5, 344
he
is
doomed
to
disappointment, 352 favours Grabbe,

his responsibility for Russian
355
disasters, 360 ; he is deeply mortified
by events of 1843, his orders to Neidhardt, 379
his policy, divide et
impera, 380 ; demands for 1845, 385
he appoints V<5rontsof viceroy, 386
his premature thanksgiving in 1845,
390 n. loyalty to Vorontsoff and high
spirit, 410 n. ; he orders return of
5th Army Corps, 417 ; acknowledges
;
Freitag's services, 425 ; anecdote relating to Akhtee, 436 . ; his opinion

on Hadji Mourad's surrender, 441 ; his
courage and dignity in 1854, 448
Gouneeb taken on his birthday, 481
Niebolseen, General, defeats Persians
441
Djerakh, part of
Shamil's
Noutsal, title of rulers of Avaria, 483

Novorosseesk, 51 n.
Novotroitskaya, 40
453
at,
movement from
campaign of 1846, 420
Nicholas
I., Emperor
of Russia, his
policy in the Caucasus, 98 ; his accession, 153 ; he refuses to believe in
danger of attack by Persia, ] 54 ; is
crowned at Moscow, calls on Yermdloff to occupy Erivan, 156 ; reprimands
Yermdloff , 158 n. ; his generosity, 168 ;
severity towards political offenders,
170 ; he confers orders and presents
on Englishmen, 175 n. ; his demands
on Paskievitch, 200 ; grief at misconduct of troops, 257 ; he disapproves
Veliameenoff's actions, but gives in,
endeavours to induce Shamil's
260
surrender, visits the Caucasus, 307
Sha.mil refuses to meet him, 310 ; he
visits Ghelendjik, Ansipa, Redout Kale,
Koutais,
Akhaltsikh,
AkhalkaUki,
Oil-fields of
Grozny, 108
n.
Okdlnitchi, General, description of Klugenau, 308 n. ; his praise of Fese,356 n.

Oliphant, Laurence, his book, " The
Transcaucasian Campaign under Omar

Pasha," 447 n.
Oloviashnikoff, Captain, surrenders at
Sultan-Boudii, 83
Omar, Khan of Avaria., invades Georgia,
is defeated by General Lazareff, 61
Omar Pasha, his Transcaucasian campaign, 447 his relations with Shamil,
449
Orbeliani, Prince, captures Poti, 78 defeats Tsarievitch Alexander, 88
at
assault on Gherghehil, 431 ; defeats
Murids near Evghenievskoe, 460
Princess, carried off a prisoner, 449
Order, Mussulman, 232
;
Orel. See Ariol

Orldff, Ataman of
Don Cossacks, ordered

to invade India, 22 n.
Or-Shobai (Soulak), meaning of, 290 n.
Orta-Kepi, 188
Orthodox Church, missionary activity,
32 ; missionaries murdered by Galgais,
262
Osipoff, Arkheep, heroic death, 347 n.
Osman, brother of Hadji Mourdd, with
whom he kills Hamzad, 288
Osman Pasha leads Turkish advanced
guard, 211
escapes at Milli-diouz,
215 routed by Paskievitch near Bai;
bourt, 221
Ossetia, rebellion in 1812, 85 ; establishment of Russian authority, 259
Ossietines,
Orthodox
missions,
33
anti-Russian movement
rebels, 75
amongst, 87 ; defeated, 88 serve with
Russians, 264
loyalty to Russia,
;
421 n.
INDEX
510
Osteu Sacken, General, leads stormers at

AkhalkaMki, 191 his alleged blunders,
219
Ottino, Professor, discovers supposed
letters of Shaykh-Mansour proving him
to have been one Boetti, an Italian,
48
Ouditchnaya, temporary fort, 321 evacuated, 327 in 1845, 389
Oullou Kala surrenders to Russians, 474
Ouna, Kabardan dwelling, 11
Ountsoukoul, prison pits of, 253 ; people
of, hostile to Russians, 292 ; they submit to Fese, 298 ; oppose Shamil, 313
road to Ghimree repaired, 327
inhabitants side with Russia and surrender seventy-eight Murids, but Yevdokeemoff is wounded by a fanatic,
Russian disaster at, taken by
356
Shamil, 366
Ourma, river, 297
Ouroukh, stanitsa, defeat of Levkovitch,
420
Ourvan, river and fort, 423
Ouseley, Sir Gore, Anglo-Persian treaty,
90 succeeds Jones, returns to England, 180
Oushakan. See Asbtar&k
Oushakoff, Admiral, his victory over
Turks, 54
Ouremish taken by Peter, 27
;
Outsmi
(of Karakaitagh), Arab title of

native ruler, 26 ; Gmelin imprisoned
by, 37
his humanity and other characteristics,

170, 171 ; anger against Mouravidfi for
taking Tabriz, 174 ; concludes treaty
of Turkmentchai, learns that war had
been declared against Turkey, 176

testifies
in favour of British policy,
Ears, 184-189; his huwise measures

;
against the plague, storms Akhalkaliiki,
190 takes Akhaltsikh, 198 on Gribo-
181; takes
manity at Kars, 189

;
yecloff's
murder, 202 n.
his
most press-
ing anxieties relieved, nevertheless has

to face very grave situation, 207 ; his
high qualities, military and other, 208
marches on Erzeroum, 212; likens
army to ship, 216 takes Turkish camp,
;
Seraskier's army dispersed, Milli-diouz

taken, 218
takes Hassan KaH and
Erzeroum, 219 ; advances nearly to
Kara Hissar, reconnoitres road to
Trebizond, blows up Baibourt, his
attitude
astonishing campaign, 221
towards Armenians, his humanity,
90,000 Armenians accompany him on
his return from Erzeroum, 223 ; his
campaign appreciTranscaucasian
ated, his character, measures, and
methods, later career, death, unfairly
treated by YermdlofE's admirers, 223227 ; his grief at misconduct of troops,
;
257
Passek at Khounzakh, retires to Ziriani,
370 n. besieged there, soldiers' song,
371 n. relieved by Gourko, 373 his
brilliant victory at Ghillee, 382 storms
Antchimeer, hurries on to Zounoumeer, where sudden frost causes
serious loss, 389 ; with Vdrontsofl! in
1845, 392 his standard, 392 . heroic
death, 401 ; his body lost, 402
;
Pakhou-Beekhe, Khansha of Avaria, 252

defies Kazi Moullsi, heroic conduct,
treats Hamzad as son, 283
;
quarrels with Hamzad, murdered by
him, 286
Pankritieff General, 211 ; at Milli-diouz,
215
Panyoutin, General, defends Bayazid,
255
210
Paraoul, capital of Mekhtoulee, sacked
by Yermoloff , 124 ; destroyed by Kazi
MoulK, 266
Parghita, Turks defeated at, 85
Paris, Treaty of.
See Treaty of Paris
Pashaliks of Turkey in Asia, xxiii
PaskieVitoh, his views adversely commented on by Veliameenoff 111 sent
to Caucasus, 157 ; takes command
against Persians and gains victory,
158 embittered relations with Yermdloff, 159
appointed commander-inchief, 160 besieges Erivan, 164 takes
Nakhetchevan, defeats Abbas Mirza
at Djevan-boulak, takes Abbas-Abad,
165 takes Serdar-Abad, Erivan, 169 ;
;
Path.
See Tarikat
Emperor of Russia, accepts

sovereignty over Georgia, 21 orders
invasion of India, 22; relinquishes
Catherine's Persian conquests, 57
protects George XII., 60 ; accepts
crown of Georgia, 61
Paulucci, Marquis, his victory at Akhalkaliiki, 78-79 ; he succeeds Tormazoff,
79; his great services to Russia, 80;
recalled and made Governor-General
of Finland and Baltic provinces, of
Genoa, 86
" Peace Party,'' how Murids treated its
adherents, 393 n.
Paul
I.,
Peesareff, death of, 293

Pemberton, Colonel E., viii
Persia, Afghan invasion under
Mahmoud,
treaty with Russia signed, 29

war with, 56 ; Russian campaign with,
1796, 57 ; her loss of territory in 1813,
90; war with Turkey in 1821, 142;
frontier disputes lead to war, 154
23
INDEX
threatened renewal of war, 202
danger to Russia in that event, 207 n.
no more wars with, 230 threatens to
join allies in 1854,
makes secret convention with Russia and keeps it, 448

Persian army, French and English
attempts to improve it, their total
failure, reasons why, 228
Persians hold Tiflis in Peter's time, 19 n.
Pestel, Colonel, his failure in Karakaitagh, 124
Petchenegs suggested ancestors of Nogai
Tartars, 42
Peter the Great captures stronghold of
Zaporozhian Cossacks, 4
sends expedition to Khiva, invades the Caucasus, takes Derbend, founds Holy
Cross fort, 10; alarmed at Turkish
progress in Persia, 23 sends embassy
to Persia, invades that country, 24
his proclamation to Persians, 26
he
enters Derbend, 27 makes triumphal
entry into Moscow, 28
PetaSvsk, site marked out by Peter, 25
built, 373 n.
Piatigorsk, Lermontoff killed in duel at,
;
33l7t.
Pieri, Colonel,
511
Ismail, mysterious affair with Shah's

brother, 46 ; his death, 47 ; he is
succeeded by Gouddvitch, 55
Potiomkin, Prince, destroys Zaporozhian sietcha, 4 ; independence of
Crimea finally extinguished by, 39;
orders
Souvoroff to crush Nogai
Tartars, 43
Potskhoff, defile, 212
Potto, General, his book on the Conquest, Kavkazskaya Voind (Caucasian
war), vi, 4 n.
Poushkin
meets
Griboye'doff's
body,
strange reflections, 205

present at
capture of Erzeroum, 219; characteristic treatment, 219 n. ,
Poushtchin, Decabrist, able conduct of
siege operations at Erivan, 169 ; at
Kars, 185 at Akhaltsikh, 193
Poustoshkin, Admiral, takes Anapa, 76
Prisoners, Shamil's treatment of, 455
Pshavs, anti-Russian movement amongst,
87
Pullo, Colonel, at Argouani, 318
promoted Major-General, 321 at Akhoulgd, 338 ; his cruelty, cause of
Tchetchen rising, 346
;
storms Aldee, his defeat
and death, 49
Pirogdff, great Russian surgeon, Hadji
Mourstd's head sent to him, 443
Plague at Akhaltsikh, 79 ; at Kars, 190
at Akhaltsikh again, 210
Q
Quarter, none given by Russians at
Batalpashinsk, 54 at Anapa, 55 ; to
500 Daghestanis and Tartars at Gandja,
67 ; at Lenkoran, 89 ; at Agatch-Kala,
258 ; at Ghimree, 279
;
Plains fertile in north, 40

Plsttoff Ataman of Don Cossacks, 22 n.
his heroic action, 36
Pliny on languages of Caucasus, xxv
Podpsiklea, river, Hermann's victory at
Batalpashinsk, 55 n.
Poland, relation to Cossacks, 3, 4
Polovtsi, suggested ancestors of Nogai
Raids, Veliameenoff on, 260 ; native, 116120 ; Veliameenoff's proposed counter-
Tartars, 42
Poltava, Erzeroum, taken on anniversary
" Ranks, passing through the," terrible
of,
Pope
219
heroic conduct of, 187

Popko, Terskoe Voisko (Terek soldiery),
11
Pop&ff, General, defends Bayazid, 210
Portniaghin distinguishes himself in
Persian war, 69
(priest),
Portmanteau Mountain.
Mountain
Potemkin. See Potiomkin
See
Saddle
Poti besieged, 35 slave-dealing centre,

66; captured by Prince Orbeliani, 78;
restored to Turkey, 87, 183; capitulates
in 1828, mortality from fever, 199
Potiomkin, Count Paul, in 1783 builds
Vladikavkaz, makes first road over the
mountains and drives to Tiflis, 20
his administrative reforms and colofirst Viceroy of the
nisation, 45-46
Caucasus, present at storming of
;
R
measures, 121-122
punishment, 316
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, on resistance of
the mountaineers to Russia and its
relation to India, xxxviii on AngloPersian relations, 181
Rayevsky, Colonel, takes Khertviss, 191
Read, General, his cowardly suggestions,
448
Recruits for Paskievitch's army take a
month to march between Stavropol and
Tiflis, two months to drill, 201 n.
Red stockings at Persian Court, 102
Redout Kale built by Tsitsianoff, 70;
Nicholas I. at, 311
Regiments of Caucasus, their strength
and organisation, 126-128
Religion, language of, in northern Cau;
casus, Arabic, xxx, xxxvii

Reout, Colonel, defender of Shoushi, 155
at Kars, 186 occupies Moush, 222 n.
;
INDEX
512
Rcsht, Russian aid invited, 28 Russians

ordered to evacuate, fighting at, 29
Eetohel, the fatal ridge, 394
;
Retlo.
See Esen-am
Rifles first used by Russians (natives
some from early times), 460 n.
had
Romanets, the renegade, murders Mikhail

of Tver, 2
Romanovsky, Colonel, his lectures on the
Conquest, vi his opinion on the warfare in the western Caucasus, viii
Romieu, Colonel, his mission to Persia
;
and death, 178

" Ros." See Varangians
Rosen, General Baron, defeats Turks,
55 relieves Vnezipnaya, receives submission of Koisoubou villages, 255
commander-in-chief, 259 his Galgai
expedition of 1832, 262 dismissed by
Nicholas I., 311
Ross, Sir John Lockhart, and the French
privateer, 440 n.
Rostoff, formerly Fort Dmeetri, 39
threatened by Tcherkess, 51
Roth, Colonel, heroic defence of Aktee,
kievitch likened to Napoleon's passage

of Alps, 213
Sagheed of Arakanee, Kazi Moulla's vengeance on, 251
the bridge at, 323

secured by Wrangel, 474
Saklia, native house, 271
Salatau mountain range, 123
declares for Shamil, 314
Saltee, storming of, in 1847, 434
Salvarty Mountains, Paskievitch
of, 166
Samoukh submits to Russia, 68
Samour, success of Goldvine's
Sagritl,
tion,
his daughter promised by Shamil to

naib, 435
Roudja, Shamil pillaged near, 475
Rounovsky, Shamil's warder at Kalougit,
248
Rteeshtcheff, General, appointed to command northern Line, 79
succeeds
Faulucci, his want of firmness, 86
situation in Caucasus when he took
command, 87 and when he resigned
it, 91
" Russ." See Varangians
Russia, her task in the Conquest, zxiii
her policy towards natives, 41 ; dangerous position of affairs in Caucasus
in 1811-12, 79 ; the disasters of 1826,
reason for distrust and anger
155
against England, 181 ; advantages of
autocratic power, 235 Russia's position
from 1848 to 1856, 437 danger resulther relaing from Crimean war, 448
tions with Persia, 449 n.
Russian soldiery, endurance and fortitude, 363, 368
Russians take no prisoners, 54, 55, 67,
valiant conduct of, 80
89, 258, 279
cruelty and kindness, 197
supineness
during early days of Muridism, 244
;
passage
district
at foot
expedi-
343
river,
communities on the Upper,
hostile to Russia, 314
Samsoun, Paskievitch's designs on, 200,

201
Savagery of Tchetchens, 406

Savelieff, Ataman of Volga Cossacks, 34
Sayasani, aoul destroyed, 316 in line of
Vdrontsoff's retreat, 405
Sbornik Gaziti Kavhaz, Russian bibliographical rarity, article on Muridism,
49 n.
Schiefner on languages of Caucasus, xxx
Schulten, Captain, leads assault on Akhalkaliki, 82
;
Schultz, Captain, heroic death, 366

Schwartz, General, commands on Lesghian Line, 412
Scotsmen, occasional likeness to, in inhabitants of Daghestan, xxxiv
Scutari, Paskievitch's designs on, 200,
201
Semidnoff, his work on natives of the
northern Caucasus, 42
Senkovski, Professor, Orientalist, urges
acquisition of Oriental MSS., 175 m.,
199 n.
Serdar-Abad surrenders to Paskievitch,
169 ; Nicholas I. at, 311

Seringapatam, Tippoo killed at, 177
Shadrin founds Andreyevo (Enderee), 8
Shaghin-Ghirei, last Khan of Crimea, 43
Shah, the (Mahmoud), surrenders Russian
deserters, 312
Shakhboulakh (not identified), 83
Shakhovskoi, Prince, his report to Rosen,
144
Shalee, rendezvous of Shamil's forces in
1846, 418
Shamil, birth, change of name, physical qualities, 240 his character, he
is taught by Eazi Moulld, opposes
drunkenness, inflicts punishment on
Eazi Moulld and self, 241 gives instances of blood-feuds, 246 ; enforces
Shariat with fire and sword, 249 his
narrow escape at Ehounzakh, 255 at
Ghimree, 279 ; his wounds cnred by
Abdoul Aziz, 280 ; he carries off Kazi
;
S
Saddle Mountain, BarUtinsky's bivouac
at foot of, 476
Sadru'd-din taught at Baku in ninth
century A.H., 233
Saganloug Mountains, Turkish advanced
guard crosses, 211 crossing by Pas;
INDEX
513
MoulM's body, 281 murders Boulatch

Khan, is proclaimed Imam, 289 ; EeeMahomd one of bis chief sup-
Shamkhal of Tarkou favours Eazi Moulli,
beet
Shamkhor, MaddtofPs victory over Per-
porters, 298; his two letters to Fe'sS,

he finds Ash ilia in ruins, 305 refuses
sians at, 158

Shariat, the Law, 230; reasons for insisting on its observance, an essential
part of Koran, its special significance
in Daghestan in relation to bloodfeuds, 245 ; it is enforced by Shamil
with fire and sword, "time of the,"
to meet Nicholas
I.,
310
is
presented
to Alexander II. after Gouneeb, 311;

ominously quiet in 1838, Russian
Government alarmed, his authority
widely recognised, 313, 314; Shamil
as husband and father, 338 ; his
escape from Akhoulgd, 341 ; price put
on him, 344 and n. ; in 1840 he takes
advantage of Russian mistakes in
Tchetchnia, 346
preaches Shariat,
;
appointed Mehemet All's lieu; his activity in Tchetchnia, 349

his wife Shouanet, 350
attempt to assassinate him, his revenge, 350 ; wonderful recovery of
power in 1840, 353; he raids EaziEoumoukh, is defeated by Argouteensky, 356 ; rejoices at Fes^'s recall,
356 n. his military organisation, 361
despotism, 362
masterly strategy,
364 ; chivalrous conduct, 366 n.
he takes all Russian fortified places
in Avaria except Kounzakh, 367 ;
blockades Shonri, 371 ; is defeated
by Freitag, 373 ; his mother, 374-379
he is defeated at Akousha, 383 massacres Russian prisoners, 396 n.
sends Muhammad Ameen to the
west, 413 n. ; advantage of his position in 1846, 415 ; he is defeated at
Kouteshee, 426 ; at Veden, 428 ; witnesses VdrontsofFs failure at Ghergh^bil, 430 ; his position from 1848
to 1856, 437; despotic rule, 438; he
becomes jealous of Hadji Jlourvtd, proclaims Eazi Muhammad his successor,
compasses Hadji ilourfd's death, 441
invades the Djaio-Bielokani districts,
449 ; his love for his son, Jamalu'd-din,
452 ; his idea of full dress, 453 ; his
life at Veden, 454; his cat, 455;
wives and sons, 456 ; influence waning, 458; he weeps on hearing that
Argoun defile is taken, 464 ; takes the
is
offensive for the last time, 468
defeated at Atchkoi, and again near
Nazran, 469 his admirable courage,
473 he quotes Arab verses, 475 ; is
347
is
tenant, 348
;
hemmed
in; on Gouneeb, his reflec477; his loyalty and devotion

reasons for final
to Muridism, 478
tions,
internal
failure,
dissensions,
irony
of Fate paradox, 479, 480; he surrenders, 482 ; at Ealougd, at Kieff,

at Mecca, dies at Medina, 482 n.
he drank no wine, 492
n.
Shamil's
Psalm, 489
Shamkhal,
title
of
Koumuik
rulers, 8 n.
244
249
nia,
Shamil preaches
347
in Tchetch-
it
Shate, Tousheen warrior, 398

Shatil taken by Russians in 1813, 90 ;
death of Akhverdi Mahomd, 374
Sbatce occupied by Russians, 467
Shaukhal-Berdee on line of Voronstoff's
retreat, 406
Shaykh-Mansour, his origin and career,
47-56
Shaykh-Sophi-Edeene', priceless library

from Mosque sent to Russia, 175
Sheepoff, Colonel, sent by Peter to
occupy Ghilian, 28
Shekeen taken by Zouboff 58 ; subdued
by Tsitsianoff, 69
confirmed to
Russia by treaty of Gulistan, 90
annexed by Yermoloff, 130
Shemakha, capital of Shirvan, Russian
subjects plundered, 24
taken bv
Zouboff 58 district of, 233
who openly preached
Shibli,
first
Sufi' ism, 232
Shirvan ceded to Russia, 30 ; taken by
Zouboff, 58 ; confirmed to Russia by
treaty of Gulistan, 90 annexed, 139 ;
regiment at Akhaltsikh, 196 Sufi'ism
first established in the Caucasus in,
233 ; Shah of, builds palace at
Baku, dynasty extinct, 233 ; Ismail
Efendi, 234
Shouaib Moulli, his fidelity to Shamil,
346 ; places sharpshooters in trees,
358 . ; his death, Shamil's vengeance,
383
Shouanet, Shamil's favourite wife, captured at Mozddk, 350 ; her devotion to
Shamil, 456
Shoura, Russians blockaded in, 371 ; relieved by Freitag, 373 Hadji Mourid's
Shamil sent there, 482
raid, 439
Shouraghel overrun by hordes of Erivan,
155
Shousha, Agha Muhammad assassinated
capital of Karabagh, 69
at, 59 n.
,
besieged,
Reout
successfully
and
Elugenau,
defended by
155 ; siege
raised, 158
Sietcha captured by Prince Potiomkin, 4
Signakh, Tsarievitch Alexander defeated
by Orbeliani at, 88
Silk culture on the Terek, 12 ; Potiomkin's care of, 46
2k
INDEX
514
and copper mines near Sivas,

201
Simonitch, Russian minister at Teheran,
312 n.
Sivas, Paskievitch's designs on, 200, 201
movement abandoned, 221
Slieptsoff takes part in Freitag's pursuit
of Shamil, killed in. 1851, 419 n.,
scene of Russian disaster in

1812, 83
Sultanieh, meeting-place of Yermdloffi
and Feth Ali, 101
Surgery of natives, 280
Surrender of 1000 Russians, 155
Suwarrow. See Souvoroff
Sviatoslav, Grand Prince, extends conquests to river Kouban, 2
Silver
tified),
444
Solomon, Tsar of Imeritia, 35
Sword, Tchetchens not conquered by

the, xxxv
submits
to Russia, 66 ; deposed, 78
Solovietsk, monastery of, 56
Solovi<5ff on Varangian question, 1 .
Songs, death, 442 and Appendix
Soudjuk-Kal6 near Novorosseesk, Turks

Tabassaran occupied by Murids, 381
defeated, 51
Soukhdtin besieges Poti, 35

Soukhoum-Kale, near site of Dioscurias,
xxiv ; becomes Russian possession,
78 ; retained by Russia in spite of
treaty of Bucharest, 87
Soukhtelen, Count, takes Ardebil and
sends to St. Petersburg priceless MSS.,
175
Soulak, river, Russian force destroyed
near, 9 ; meaning of name, 290 n.
Soundja, river, Grozny built on, 107
Sourkhai, Khan of Kazi-Koumoukh, deposed, 137
his castle unoccupied in 1837, 301
he insults Klugenau, 309 inTchetchnia, 315 ; his castle defended by Ali
Bek, 324 ; desperate attack, 328
heroism on both sides, 329 position
taken, 330 he is killed at Akhoulgo,
338
Souvoroff commands Kouban army corps,
38 ; constructs the Line of the Kouban,
40
crushes Nogai Tartars, 43-45
returns to Russia, 45 ; his maxims,
163w., 399
Spear stained with blood of Christ, 167
Spring of Ghiraree, the, its situation,
290 Klugenau's meeting with Shamil,
;
307-310
Stavropol, foundation of, 39
Stenka Razeen attacks Tarkou and raids

Persia, 9
Stephen, Sir A. Condie, his translation
of "The Demon," 18n.
Steppes, desert in north, 40
Strabo on languages of Caucasus, xxiv
Strekaloff, General, defeated at Zakatali,
257
Sufian, Russians at, 173
Sufi'ism, short account of, 232
authorities on, 234 n.
et
scq.
the first, 232

Sultan Husayn, Shah of Persia, forced to
abdicate, 24
Sultan, Turkish, sends Shamil patterns
of medals, 362 n.
Sultan-Boudit (Kerza-Kertchee, not idenSufis,
Tabriz, residence of Abbas Mirza, 103

captured by Mouravidff, 174
Taganrog, Alexander I. dies at, 153
Taimuraz, Tsar of Iberia, claims Russian
help, 19 n.
Talish devastated by Persians, who,
however, are beaten back, 78 ; confirmed to Russia by treaty of Gulistan, 90 ; alone of all the khanates
remains independent, 144

Tamiin, peninsula, 41. See Tmoutarakan
Tamara, fictitious heroines of Lermonpoems, "The Demon"
and
" Tamara," 18 n.
Queen of Georgia, marries George,
toff's
son of Grand Prince Andrew Bogolioubsky, 2 her extensive dominions,

she rules over Akhaltsikh, 191
18, 67
;
Tamasp, Shah of Persia, his relations

with Russia, 29
Tamatarchia. See Tmoutarakan
Tamerlane, 88 n. ; sword of, 169
Tarasevitch, Captain, gallant conduct at
Ghimree, 286 ; left in charge of fort
Oudatchnaya, 321
rejoins GrabW,
327 death at Akhoulgd, 340
Tarikat, the Path, 230 Murids of, take
no part in fighting, 238
Tarkou, residence of the Shamkhal, 8
attacked by Stenka Razeen, captured
by Khvorostin, 9 Peter at, 25 ; taken
by Kazi Moulla, 256
Tars, Nour Ali at, 423
Tartars, 40-45 invade Georgia, 263
Tash-Kitchou, fort built, 152
Tashoff Hadji, leading supporter of
Shamil, 303 ; in Tchetchnia, 314 ; his
blockhouse near Miskeet, 315; destroyed, 316
Tatartoub, scene of Shaykh-Mansour's
defeat, and of Tamerlane's victory
over Toktamuish, 50
strategic importance, 416
Tchaberloi,
its
inhabitants
forsake
Shamil's cause, 472
they beg and
receive Russian protection, 473
Tchavtchavadze, prince and poet, takes
;
INDEX
Bayazid, makes prize of Oriental MSS.,
father-in-law of Griboyedoff, 199 and
n.
defeats Shamil, his wife carried
off, 449
Tchavtchavadze, Princess, carried off
prisoner, 449
Tchemodan. See Saddle Mountain
Tcherek, river (affluent of the Terek),
Shamil and Freitag there, 422
Tcherkask, headquarters of Don Cossacks
threatened by Tcherkess, 51
Tcherkess, name of Caucasian robe, and
of a tribe, derivation, 361 n.
the (Circassians), 2 their country,
extensive raids under Shaykh40
Mansour, 51
Vlasoff's cruelty to,
162 n. English encouragement, 348
Tchetchens, the, xxxiv-xxxvii, 40 the
so-called " peaceable," characterised
by Yermoloff 106 cruel treatment by
him, 130-132 they are driven to rebel
in 1824, 147
the mountain tribes
(Tchetchen and Ingoushee) submit
to Kazi Moulta, 262; righting qualities of, 266
their heroic devotion
at Ghermentchoug, 273
their unhappy condition in 1843, 374
the
story of their dealings with Shamil's
mother, 374-379 their savagery, 406
misfortunes, 444
characterised by
Baridtinsky, 471
their death songs,
486, 488
Tchetchnia, description of, xxxiv villages, houses, fields, gardens, and
no system of governforests, xxxv
;
description of men, xxxvi,

xxxvii ; Yermdloff's last campaign
in, 153 ; expeditions of 1832, 266
ment,
Tchetchnia devastated by Rosen and

Veliameenoff 275 ; people of Lower
Tchetchnia between hammer and anvil,
314 state of country at beginning of
even wildest parts fall
1840, 345
away from Shamil, 472
(Tchirkat),
318
Grabbe at,
Tchinkat
,
Teheran, massacre of Russian mission,

201
Tekelli, General, defeats Shaykh-Mansour, 51
Telif, Georgian insurgents beaten at, 85
Teliega, Russian four-wheeled cart, 1
Tengheen regiment,
383
Tchirn-Tabia, 188
Hamzad
studies
there,
283
Keebeet Mahomii's fortress holds out

against Argouteensky, 438 surrenders
to Russians, 474
Tcholok, river, Prince Andronnikoff
defeats Turks on the, 447
Tchors, Abbas Mirza pursued to, 172
;
begins with
59
Terengoul gully, 388

Terkee (Tioumen), at mouth of Terek, 8
Thomsen, Professor Villi. his work on
" The Relations between
Ancient
Russia and Scandinavia and the Origin
of the Russian State," 1 n.
held by
Tiflis, Moscovite embassy to, 9
Persians in Peter's time, 19 n. Russian
in
first
time
1769,
troops enter for the
19 again in 1783 and 1799, 21 sacked
byAgha Muhammad, 19, 56 Nicholas
,
I. at,
311
blockaded by Russians, 298 sortie,

how Keebeet Mahomi obtained possession, 298 m.; fighting, 302; defies
Argouteensky, 383 is surrendered by
Keebeet Mahomd, 475 ; Baritinsky
Tilitl
entertained there, 476

peace conoluded at, 77 n.
Tilsit,
envoy finds Napoleon
at,
Persian
and con-
cludes treaty, 178
Timosthenes on language of Caucasus,

xxv
Timour. See Tamerlane
Tioumen founded by Cossacks, 7
Tippoo Sultan sends mission to Persia,
177
Tmoutarakan, principality of (ancient

Tamatarchia), founded by Varangians,
2
Tobacco forbidden by Hamzad, 287
Tobot, river, at Kounzakh, 295
Todd. See D'Arcy
Todtleben crosses mountains in 1769,
Tiflis
and Koutais, 19 captures

and career in the
;
Berlin, his character
Caucasus, 35
(the younger) at taking of GhergWbil, makes road through Aimiakee
chasm, 434 at siege of Tchokh, 438
Tokat, Paskievitch's designs on, 200,201
Tolstoy, rumoured work having Hadji
Mourstd for hero, 443 serves in Caucasus, 445 ; his book, " The Cossacks,"
446
Tombs, Christian, in Galgai country,
263
Toprak Kale on proposed line of march
to Erzeroum, 200
Tormazoff General, succeeds Goud&vitch,
70 retires from siege of Akhaltsikh,
his victory at Kobrin, 79
;
Tchokh, Hadji Ali of, quoted, 240; scene

of Nadir Shah's defeat, blood-feud,
;
roll-call
Osipoff, 347
Terek, river, Cossacks reach mouth of,
7 ; Russian forces retire to, 31 again,
takes
322
Tchirkat. See Tchinkat
Tchirkei, storming of, 258; hostility to
a band joins Shamil at
Russia, 322
Akhoulgo, 334 ; unhappy position of
inhabitants, 314, 353 . ; taken by
Russians, 354 ; destroyed by Russians,
246
515
INDEX
516
Tornau, General, at siege of Nazran,

262 ; accompanies Galgai expedition,
265 his description of forest fighting,
266
Tour. Oapra Caucasian, 484
Tousheens, heroism and savagery, 398
;
their religion, 378
to.
Towers, Christian, in Galgai country,

263
Transliteration, the author's system, viii
Treaty of Paris sets Russia free to complete conquest of Caucasus, 458
of Teheran, third Anglo-Persian
treaty concluded by Ellis and Morier,
180
Trebizond only to be reduced from seaward, 200 danger from, 201 Pasktevitch reconnoitres road to, 221
Triaskin, Colonel, heroic death of, 359
;
Troitsky regiment, battalion surrenders

to Persians, 83
Trout Lake. See Ardji-Ani
Truth, the. See Hakikat
Tsatanikh, Grabbers disastrous retreat
to, 359
Tseebilda, blood-feud at, 247
Tselme'ss,
Hadji Mounld
at,
Bakounin's
death, Passek's retreat, Hadji Mounid

wounded, 355 ; Hadji Mourad's family,
441
Tsinondal, the raid on, 449
TsitsianofE, unemployed during Paul's
reign, on accession of Alexander I.
appointed commander-in-chief, 60 his
character, achievements, and death,
;
61-72
his
Russian version of the Song of Khotchbar, 483
Vadbolsky, Prince, at Kars, 186

Valerik, river (" the river of Death "), the
fight immortalised by Lermontoff, 350
and
to.
Van, occupation
of,
necessary to extended
advance, 201
Pasha of, besieges Bayazid, 210

Varanda aouls occupied, 466
Varangians make their appearance on
establish
Caspian and in Persia, 1
principality of Tmoutarakan, 2
Variags.
See Varangians
;
Vatsenko, Consul in Teheran, writes

" All here talk of war with Russia,"
154 to.
Veden, Shamil's residence, his way of
life there, 453 ; sighted by Russians,
465
VeliameenofE, General, organises Cossack Line, 16 his character and early
career, 109, 110
his views asset forth
in his " Memoir " and " Commentary,"
112-122 his proposals for subduing
the natives, 121-122
death, 122
takes over command from Emanuel,
256 his influence over Rosen, 259 ;
his commentary on Burnod's project
;
and on Paskievitch's
letter, his raids

in Tcbetchnia, conflict with Nicholas I.
and triumphant issue, 260 his plan
for Tchetchnia expedition of 1832,
;
Tsonteree, massacre of inhabitants by

Shamil, 383 ; on line of Vorontsoff's
retreat, 404
Tsori, Galgai expedition, 264 Nour Ali
starts thence in 1846, 420
Tsoudakbar repels Hamzad, 286
;
Tsourtskabi, night attack by Bourtseff,

210
Tunnel, first made in Russia, 439
Turkey encroaches on Persia, 23 ; declares war against Russia, 1768, 34
war with Russia, 1807, 67, 76 treaty
of Bucharest, 87 war with Persia in
war with Russia, 176
1821, 142
again, 182 Russia's aims, 183
Turkish inertness, 183 army, reasons
for weakness, 228, 229
Turkmentchai, treaty of, 176; ratified,
182 n.
Turks defeated by Goud6vitch, 77
;
U
Urmia taken by Russians, 175
Urquhart, David, his machinations, 348
Urumia.
from
translation
General,
Uslar,
See
Urmia
267 ; he storms Ghermentchoug, 271 ;

destroys Dargo, his prudence, 275
his opinion of Russian soldiers, 276
Ghimree expedition, 276-282 ; anecdotes of , 282 ; his advice at last adopted,
459
Fort, stormed by natives, 447 to.
V^likent, blood-feud at, 247
verkhovsky, Colonel, murdered by Am-
malet Bek, 144

Vesselitsky, Colonel, defeated and taken
prisoner at Ountsoukoul, 366
Veterani suffers reverse in 1722 near
Enderee, 25
Victoroff, General, death of, 400
Vines used in place of ropes, 323
Vinnikoff, Captain, death of, at Gherghebil, 432

Vladeemir,
Grand Prince, converts
Russia to Christianity, 2
Vladeemir Monomakh obtains successes
over Tcherkess, 2
Vladikavkaz built by Count Paul Potiomkin in 1783, 20
destroyed and rebuilt in 1799, 21
threatened by Kazi
Moulla, 261 Nicholas I. at, 311
;
INDEX
court
Vlitsoff
162
martialled
Wounds,
cruelty.
for
517
Vnezapnaya, building
123 description in Van Halen's book, 123 n.

reduced in size, 152
Kazi Moullit's
designs on, 255
besieged by Kazi
Moulla, 256 Grabbers forces concentrate there, 315
attacked by Shamil,
868 Vorontsoff sets out from, 387
Volhovsky at Gherroentchoug, 272
Volzhinsky, death of, 271
Vorontsoff, Count, afterwards Prince,
appointed viceroy and commander-inchief, his ideas as to proposed action,
386 Dargo expedition, 387-410 his
gallantry, 408
made Prince, 210 n.
acknowledges Freitag's services, 425
talent for road-making, 428 not above
learning lesson, however rude, 433
devotes himself to administrative reforms, 487
his opinion of Hadji
Mountd, 443
Vozdveezhenskoe, fortress, built, 384
bombarded, 426 Yevdokeemoff 's base
of,
success
native
supposed
n.
in
treating,
evil effeot of precious
and stones
metals
on, 280 n,
Wrangel, Baron, at Akhoulgd, 332
in 1858, 461-468
W
Wali, definition of, 231
Warfare, description of native, 116-120
Warsaw, Prince of, with Vorontsoff in
1845, 391
Wellesley, Marquis, sends mission to
Persia, 177
Western tribes, significance of fact that
they were cut off from the eastern
Cauoasus throughout the war, 412
White Sea, Shaykh-Mansour imprisoned
and dies at Solovie'tsk, 56
Williams, General, remonstrates with
Shamil, 449 n.
arrives in
Willock, British agent, 143
Persia, 179
Wine, cultivation of the vine on the
Terek, 12; Potiomkin's care of, 46;
esohewed by Shamil, 492 n.
Wittgenstein, Prince, with Vorontsoff in
1845, 391
Women, hard treatment of, in Daghestan,
xxxiii ; their prettiness in Tohetchnia,
they encourage robbery and murder,
xxxvii ; lives spared at Gandja, 67
sold by Yerrnoloff for one rouble
heroism of Avarian
apiece, 153 n.
ruler, 255 their heroism in Daghestan,
slaughtered by Russians,
333, 340
446 ; heroism of Gonneeb, 481
;
applicable
description
Akhoulgd, 340
to
n.
lived at Baku in ninth century

A.H., his 10,000 Murids, 233
Yahya
Yakobi, General, succeeds Medem, extends the Line, 39

Yaraghl, first oentre of Muridism in
Daghestan, 234
" Yarmoul," native name for Yermdloff,
107
Year 1812, trouble and danger in the

Caucasus, 84-86
Yei, river, 51
Voznesensk, what the soldiers sang at,

407
Vrevsky, Baron, first Deedo expedition,
460
second Deedo expedition, his
death, 468
Xenophon,
Yeisk besieged by Nogai Tartars, 45

Yenikali, straits of, 41 ; Admiral Oushakdff's victory, 54
Yernuiloil' abolishes eleotion of atamans
by Terek Cossacks, 16 ; begs to accompany Bakounin in 1796, 58 n. ; retires
to Astrakhan rather than serve under
opinion
of
his
Goudovitch, 59 ;
Rteeshtcheff, 86 ; his administration,
chapters vi-x ; birth, early career, 93
commander-in-chief in the Caucasus
and Ambassador to Persia, 94 characteristics, 95, 96; cruelty, 97, 98; his
central idea, 99 arrival at Tiflis, 100
visits the ceded khanates, 101 ; enters
Persia, meets Feth Ali at Sultanieh,
his extravagant conduct, 101, 102 ;
to the
reference to Gardanne, 102
English, claims Djenghis khan as
ancestor, apparent sucoess of mission,
offends Abbas Mirza, 103; builds
Grozny, 107 ; his cynicism and magnanimity, 128 ; his cruelty, 130 ; his
successes, their effect in St. Petersburg, 135 ; recapitulation, 136 ; viewed
absent
as Shamir's forerunner, 138
from Caucasus during 1821, 140 ; his
prejudice against England, 143 ; ruins
;
Eabardd, annexes Karabagh, 144

takes native wife, becomes apprehensive of religious movement, 145 ;
his cruelty, 146 ; returns to the Line
from Tiflis on account of Gherzel aoul
tragedy, 152; he is regarded with
suspicion by Nicholas I., his last
his
campaign in Tchetchnia, 152
cruelty, 153 n. ; conduct at time of
Persian invasion 156 his fate sealed,
;
INDEX
518
157
asks to be recalled, 157 n. is

reprimanded by Nicholas I., 158 n.
embittered relations with PaskieVitch,
159 failure of his system according
to Nicholas I., he leaves the Caucasus,
convoy refused, visits Taganrog,
affection for Alexander I., retires to
Ariol and Moscow, 160; glorious old
age, death, achievements and failures,
" safety and repose" of the Line, fails
to gauge fMuridism, his cruelty makes
even Nicholas I. uneasy, 162 meagre
results of Persian mission according to
Paskievitch, 181 Yermoloff on Russian
;
deserters in Persia, 311 ; his letter to

Vorontsoff re Dargo expedition, 410
Yevdokeemoff, Count, a daring reconnaissance, Ashilta bridge expedition,
wounded and earns sobri"three-eyed," 294; at the

spring of Ghimree, 308
he saves
Elugenau, 310; distinguishes himself
at Akhoulg<5, 331 n.
is stabbed at
Ountsoukoul, 356 a helpless witness
of the disaster there, 366 present at
assault on Gherghibil, 431 ; his sagacity, his Argoun expeditions, 461-468
he takes Vedte, is rewarded with title
of Count, and leads main attack in
1859, 470 his methods described and
success explained by Bariitinsky, 471
Yora, river, defeat of Omar Khan at, 61
290 ; he
quet of
is
Zaghin-Kala-Sou, river, 217

conduct and
Zaitseff, Major, gallant
death of, 367
Zakatali, scene of Strekaloff's defeat,
257
Zaporozhians, description of the, 3-4
Zapordzhtsi. See Zaporozhians
Zass, Baron, at Ghermentchoug, and on
the Kouban, 275
Zavaleeshin, General, abortive attempt
on Baku, 70
retires from Baku
a second time, leaving Tsitsianoff's
death unavenged, 71
Zeidat, chief wife of Shamil, 243, 456 ; a
descendant of the Prophet, 457 n.
Zemlianka, Yermoloff's semi-underground
hut in Grozny, 108
Zevin, road over Saganloug Mountains,
213
Ziriani evacuated, 373
Zonakh occupied by Russians, 466
Zoroaster, Tabriz birthplace of, 174
Zoti, Galgai village, 264
;
Zouboff,
Count
Catherine's
Derbend, Shirvan, Shekeen, and Karabagh, 58
superseded, 59
THE END
Printed by Ballantyne,
Platon,
favourite, 57 ; his plan for resuscitation of Greek Empire, 59

Count Valerian, appointed to command, 56 ; appointed viceroy, takes
Hanson
Edinburgh &* London
c> Oo.
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Coercive Power of the Church. By the Abbe E. Vacandard. TransCrown 8vo,
lated from the French by Bertrand L. Conway, C.S.P.
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1908
THE JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND

(1791-1811).
Edited
2 vols., 8vo, 2 is. net.
THE
LIFE OF
With
HENRY
With
EARL OF Ilchester.
by the
IRVING.
Portraits.
By Austin Brereton.
Photogravure, 22 Collotype Plates, and 23 other Illustrations.
2 vols., 8vo, 25s. net.
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ESSAYS.

Edward Hartpole Lecky.
By William
8vo, ios. 6d. net.
HENRY STUART, CARDINAL OF YORK, AND

TIMES.
"
By Alice Shield,
The King over
15 Illustrations.
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the Water."
HIS
Andrew Lang) of
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Author (with
Joint
8vo.
THOMAS GEORGE, EARL OF NORTHBROOK,

A
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trations.
By Bernard Mallet.
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and other
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THE BERNSTORFF PAPERS THE

:
OF COUNT
LIFE
ALBRECHT VON BERNSTORFF.

Authorised
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by
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Lennard and M. W. Hoper.
By Dr. Karl Ringhoffer.

Charles Edward Barrett-
2 vols., 8vo.
MOROCCO WITH GENERAL D'AMADE.
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lately
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Catherine, the younger of these two sisters, is the better known of the two, as she
translated the famous collection of hymns known as Lyra Germanica,
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THE RUSSIAN

WITH MAPS, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONGMANS, GREEN AND

PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

" The Caucasus may

strong by nature, artificially protected by military works,

and defended by a numerous

men would attempt

lay his parallels,

a word of explanation seems called

character, conforming as far as possible to their customs,

noting their superstitions and prejudices, writing

songs and legends, I became interested, likewise, in

with Russia in which they or

had, almost without

exception, taken part.

whole country teemed with

memories of the fighting days, and wherever we rode,

adventures, the battle

not stirred in a land so varied and beautiful,

with memories so poignant.

excursions with in-

had seen and heard, I sought

complete from books the information gathered,

shock of armies, the slaughter of

Coming back from each

of desperate deeds, of brave

thousands, the deaths of heroes.

the plains, in forest depths, in mountain fastnesses

Caucasus I found a wealth of material

relating to the various wars, yet, strange to say, not, even

any complete history of the conquest.

the Murid war so

In languages other than Russian and notably in English

seemed that a narrative of the

expert knowledge of military

purely military deductions to be drawn by those better

It is in that hope, at all events, that

to the public, claiming for

a true statement of the facts, as far as I could discover

them, soberly written, and free from bias.

the authors above-mentioned, in the periods treated

as I have been unable to trace to

chief reliance throughout, however, has been on the

of authentic documents published by the

Caucasus Archseographical Commission, 3 the work referred

text and notes as " Akti "

while next in im-

published under the supervision of the Grand

Istoria voinee ee vladeetchestva rousskikh

Kavkazskaya voind, St. Petersburg, 1887-1897, 4 vols., each in four parts.

Tiflis (various dates).

Michael, a collection of articles on the war by

hands and of very unequal merit, but on the whole a

Other works referred to

in the following pages need not be particularised here

markable work, wherein any one may see at a glance what

that fascinating subject the Caucasus, and, be

contributed by English writers.

one notable exception, however.

Englishmen will always

cherish the fact that their countrymen were the

on the summits of Elbrouz and Kazbek, and such